James, Anna-Maria and the Giant Peach
by DarkraixCresselia
Summary: Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. What if, during his horrible time at his aunts' hous, and his adventure to New York on the giant peach with his bug family, James had a little sister? She too experiences fright, fun, mischief, but most of all, family. I only own my OC; the rest is owned by Disney and Roald Dahl.
1. Prologue

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

* * *

**Prologue**

_This is James Henry Trotter. He lived with his mother, and father, and young sister, Anna-Maria, in a cozy little house by the sea._

A young boy of seven years stood on the shore of the beach. He was dressed in a yellow sweater, a blue vest, tan pants, white socks, and brown shoes. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. Every now and then, he would pick up a stone, throw it out into the sea, and watch it splash into the water.

Behind him, a man dressed in a blue, long-sleeved shirt; tan pants, brown shoes, and a brown hat grabbed him up. "Hey, I've got ya!" He laughed, as James giggled.

"Happy birthday, darling," A woman in a pink dress and white shirt and shoes smiled, walking up the sand, carrying a cake with seven lit candles. She had brown hair and eyes, and had a pink cloth tied around her head. Trailing after her, gripping the skirt of her dress to keep up was James' two-year-old sister, Anna-Maria. She had light brown hair in little ringlets, and big brown eyes. She wore a pink and white dress like her mother, white socks, and blue shoes.

James' father set him down so he stood in front of a table with presents. "Now, quickly," James' mother said, holding the cake in front of him. "Blow them out before the wind does."

"Make a wish first." His father advised.

James closed his eyes, thinking about his wish, before blowing all seven candles out. Six of them were ordinary white candles; the one in the middle was a special one. It was a boy riding the back of a grasshopper; on the boy's head was the candle.

Once the candles were dimmed, Anna-Maria clapped her hands, jumping up and down.

_It was a wonderful life. They had each other, and they had their dreams._

Later, the whole family lay on a blanket in the sand, watching the clouds go by. "Look!" James exclaimed, pointing at a cloud resembling a two-humped camel. "That cloud looks like a camel. And that one over there," He pointed at another that looked like a train chugging down the track with smoke coming from its pipe. "Looks like a train engine."

"Can you see the tallest building in the world?" Mr. Trotter asked.

Both James and Anna-Maria looked at the clouds. There was a pointed cloud, but it did not resemble the tower their father spoke of. "I can't find it." James said.

"Mm-mmm." Anna-Maria shook her head as well.

Mrs. Trotter turned to her two children and recited the family motto, "Try looking at it another way."

James and Anna-Maria sat up, staring at the cloud, and turned their heads to the right. They saw a cloud resembling the tower: the Empire State Building. "I see it!" James exclaimed.

"I see! I see!" Anna-Maria giggled with delight, clapping her hands.

Mr. Trotter pulled out a travel book from his pocket and showed it to the kids. It had a picture of the Empire State Building on the front, and the words "New York."

"That's where we're going." He said. "On a great ship that will take us across the ocean, and we'll go right to the top of that building. The four of us, on top of the world."

"Are there any kids there, like Anna-Maria and me?" James asked.

His father opened the travel book. Inside were pictures of the city. "Hundreds of them," He said, giving James the book. Anna-Maria climbed onto his lap to look at the book. "It's a wonderful place, James; a city where dreams come true."

_Then, one day, a terrible thing happened._

James and Anna-Maria looked up to see that their parents were gone. The sky grew dark; lightning flashed, and thunder sounded loudly. The wind blew around them.

_An angry rhinoceros appeared out of nowhere, and gobbled up their poor mother and father._

James stood up, holding Anna-Maria close; she was hugging him, staring up at the sky in terror. James stared into the dark clouds as well.

_Their troubles, if they had any at all, were over in 35 seconds flat._

Out of the dark gray clouds, the silhouette of a rhinoceros with yellow eyes came out, roaring.

_But James and Anna-Maria's troubles were just beginning,_

James sat up in bed, panting. He had that horrible nightmare of his parents' deaths again. Instead of his afternoon clothes, he wore a white and blue striped nightshirt.

Beside him, Anna-Maria hugged his waist, tears running down her little cheeks. She too was wearing a nightshirt. Hers, however, was white and dirty.

When James realized he was holding his travel book, he quickly hid it under his pillow. And just in time, as his and Anna-Maria's two guardians of eight months came bustling in.

_For now, they live here, with Aunt Sponge,_

"Get up!" One of their aunts, Sponge, snapped. "You lazy little bugs!" She was a fat, repulsive woman. She wore a pink robe lined with pink fur, slippers, and a blue towel tied around her head.

_And Aunt Spiker._

Behind her was the other of the children's aunts, Spiker. She was tall, thin, and just as repulsive. She wore a green robe, slippers, and another blue towel tied around her head; this one had the misleading appearance of a bow tie.

"You two've already wasted four minutes of daylight!" Aunt Spiker snapped, pointing to her watch.

James just stared intimidated at his aunts, holding a frightened Anna-Maria close. "Look at them," Aunt Spiker mocked. "Lollygagging in dreamland, when there's so much work to do!"

"Weeds to pull," Aunt Sponge added. "Wood to chop,"

The sisters then chanted together, "Work, work, work, work, work!"

* * *

**A/N I've been thinking if I wanted to write this, and finally started. There isn't a proper transcript (ei not just the dialogue, but who's saying what, and doing what actions) so I'm only writing this by what I see and hear in the movie, and getting help from a script that just has dialogue.**

**By the way, I read that the old man who gave James the crocodile tongues is a "wounded Confederate soldier" He was always just "the old man" to me; is the soldier claim true?**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**Demonwolf: I believe I read them. Thank you :)**

**I had a feeling that was the case.**

**snow299: Thanks :D**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Once they were dressed—James in an oversized green shirt, a white T-shirt underneath, blue pants and brown shoes, and Anna-Maria, who had turned three years old at that house, in a dirty, old, brown dress and black shoes—the two kids gathered the tools they needed for their chores in a wheelbarrow made from their toy chest. James pushed it out the door and down the stairs, while Anna-Maria followed close behind. She usually couldn't do much work aside from handing James tools and picking up trash, but it was better than staying with their aunts.

After their parents died, the house they lived in was sold, along with most of their possessions. Then, with only some clothes and other items in their names, James and Anna-Maria were sent off to live with their terrible aunts in an old house that looked like it could fall off of the edge of the cliff it sat on. It only had six rooms: the kitchen/dining room, the living room, the aunts' two bedrooms, a bathroom, and the attic, which was where James and Anna-Maria slept. The attic was cold and barren, with only a fireplace, an old bed, and a chair in it. There was a window, so they could at least look outside if they wished.

The aunts never treated James and Anna-Maria with kindness as their parents had; no, they were treated horribly. They were both beaten, usually without an excuse, and were almost always sent to bed without any dinner; when they did get food, they always split evenly amongst themselves. They both did most of the chores, including laundry, cleaning their aunts' antique car, dusting and cleaning the house, chopping the wood, pulling weeds, and many other things.

James and Anna-Maria grew frightened of Aunt Spiker and Sponge very quickly. It was worse for little Anna-Maria though. She was very young, and would get frightened easily. The things that scared her most were the rhino that killed her parents, and her terrible aunts. When she and her older brother first got the aunts' dose of abuse, she called them "Meanie Aunts" right to their faces. Well, as you can imagine, that didn't set well with them at all, and she was beaten until she was black and blue.

The only thing on that miserable hill that didn't scare her was her big brother, James. Ever since their parents died, he promised to protect his little sister from anything and everything; especially their aunts.

Interestingly, the only other thing that Anna-Maria wasn't frightened of was bugs. When she had turned two years old, she would run in the grass, chasing butterflies, grasshoppers and ladybugs. She never hurt them though, as her family told her bugs were people too, and should be respected. Aunt Spiker and Sponge were the opposite though. They hated bugs, and would squash every spider they saw. It upset Anna-Maria, and made her cry. They slapped her, telling her to not cry over bugs. She eventually learned to hide her sadness over the dead bugs, but once she was alone with James, she cried.

Today, both James and Anna-Maria did the chores together. First, they raked the leaves under an old, dead peach tree into piles. Anna-Maria always looked for bugs under the leaves. Usually, there'd be crickets and grasshoppers, and occasionally earthworms. She'd watch them hop and wriggle around before being called back by James. Then she'd forget them as she toddled after her big brother.

Next, James pulled up a bucket of water from the well. Anna-Maria, who was too little to lift the bucket, stood to the side and watched.

Then they both polished their aunts' old cars with rags. Anna-Maria thought this chore to be a little fun, as she could rub out pictures in the dust with her rag. She'd make a house, four smiling stick people, the sun and clouds, and birds flying in the sky. But she always had to remember to wipe her artwork away so her aunts wouldn't see that she had been, "Dawdling instead of doing her work."

After that, they did the laundry. James washed the clothes in soapy water, rinsed them off, and hung them on the clothesline. Anna-Maria helped by making sure there were on bubbles in the rinsed clothes, and handing James clothespins to hang the clothes with. Even if it were small, simple jobs such as those, James always appreciated Anna-Maria's help, and she loved the feeling that she did a good job, even if their aunts didn't agree.

Next, they both painted the aunts' outside chairs with white paint; at that point, James had removed his green shirt. They had to be careful to cover each bare spot with paint, as the aunts always checked. Once they gave their approval, the kids hurried off to do the next chore, which was dusting the house. They both used a feather duster, and dusted every inch of the house, not missing a single spot.

Outside, Anna-Maria helped James to pick up the trash—which included broken bottles, paper, and wood—and put them in a bucket. James didn't allow her near him when he was chopping the wood for fear he may hit her. She amused herself by piling stones into a circle wall, and then piled leaves on top, making a little house. If a bug happened to crawl by, she'd pick it up and put them inside. If they crawled out over the top or through the cracks in the wall, she'd put them back. Once James was done chopping wood, and sat down to rest, Anna-Maria forgot about her bug neighborhood, and sat down beside him. "Done with wood?" She asked.

"Yes." James nodded, wiping the sweat from his face. He looked up, watching the clouds and seagulls float and fly over the ocean. He could see the old neighborhood he and his family visited to play with other children. Then he took the travel book their father gave them from his pocket. Inside were not only pictures of New York, but a route the ship would have taken from the United Kingdom to New York and back. Only he and Anna-Maria wouldn't be able to go.

Anna-Maria sat beside James and looked at the pictures and map. "I wanna go to New Yo'k." She sighed.

"I know." James nodded, excusing her poor language. He looked back up at the ocean, listening to the seagulls cawing.

"You lazy bugs!" Both children jumped and turned to see their aunts glaring down at them. They were both in lounging clothes, wore sun hats, and had their auburn hair curled tightly.

"Who told you two to stop working?" Aunt Sponge continued sharply.

"I finished the wood." James answered nervously, hiding his travel book behind his back. Aunt Spiker snatched it up anyway.

"A travel book? How dare you two even dream of leaving." She snapped.

"This is the only home you both will ever have." Aunt Sponge said as she and Aunt Spiker pulled the children to their feet by their arms.

"No one else would tolerate worthless little nothings like _you_." The thinner aunt sneered, handing the travel book to her fat sister.

"Where did you get this?" Aunt Sponge asked haughtily. "Where?"

"Father gave it to us." James answered.

"He said we'd go there someday." Anna-Maria added timidly, clutching her brother's arm.

"Stupid, foolish man!" Aunt Spiker sneered, pointing a finger to James' chest, making him sit back on the rocks.

"Foolish man, always dreaming," Aunt Sponge added. "That's what got him killed!"

"_And_ your mother." By now, the aunts were circling their frightened niece and nephew as though they were prey, and the aunts themselves were wild cats.

"Had his head in the clouds instead of looking where he was going!"

"He never even saw that rhino coming."

"That rhino!" Aunt Sponge grinned, intending on scaring the children, as the sisters always did, using the rhino as a playing card.

"And the beast will get both of you two," Aunt Spiker said, pointing at them. "If the two of you don't behave."

Anna-Maria climbed onto James' lap and hugged him close, growing scared. "Now get these stupid dreams out of your heads," Aunt Sponge snapped, tearing the travel book into pieces and tossing them to the ground.

"And get back to work!" Both aunts snapped. James and Anna-Maria watched sadly as the remains of their travel book were blown away.

* * *

**A/N I decided to make Anna-Maria a three-year-old, rather than keep her a two-year-old. I also made her not afraid of bugs so she won't be too scared of the ones she meets later with her brother (I'm sure you know what bugs I'm talking about ;))**

**Also, I'll try and write Anna-Maria's dialogue like a three-year-old's; mispronouncing words and forgetting some. If people could give me suggestions, or show me examples, be it writing or video, I'd really appreciate it :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**Demonwolf: Aw, thanks :D**

**My youngest sibling is 13 years old, and I don't know how old my youngest cousin is. I've only seen my cousins once. Plus, we live pretty much out in the middle of nowhere between two houses, and town is about ten minutes away on either side. I've actually done "research" by looking on YouTube for toddlers talking. I sometimes forget my "work" with how cute they are :3**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

That evening, when James and Anna-Maria were finally finished with chores, as you can imagine, they were both hungry. James told Anna-Maria to go upstairs to their room while he tried to get some food for them. "Ok, James." She nodded, carefully tiptoeing up the stairs into their room. Luckily, the aunts were busy eating, and didn't notice the toddler go up.

Once she was in the room, she went right for her "toys". They were only pieces of wood, charcoal, and rocks. But to her, they were building blocks, just waiting to be built into something.

She made a house from the rocks and wood, then set the charcoal around them to resemble trees, and used the remaining wood as a fence. Since there were no bugs to live in her house, Anna-Maria settled for three pieces of wood. The biggest was the father, the next biggest was the mother, and the last was the child. It was never the same; some games, it was a boy, while other games, it was a girl.

Growing bored, she pushed her "toys" back against the fireplace, where they looked as though nothing had disturbed them, and continued to sit on the floor, waiting for her big brother to get them food.

In a few minutes, although it seemed like longer for Anna-Maria, James came upstairs, holding a chip bag. "It's not much," He sighed, sitting on the bed and pouring a few chips into his hand. "But at least it's better than rotting fish heads on a plate."

"Ewww!" Anna-Maria giggled, taking the half portion of the chips James handed her.

"That's what _I_ thought." James smiled, eating his chips. He tore the bag open to try and lick the crumbs off of the inside.

"Spidow web!" Anna-Maria exclaimed, pointing to the window.

When James looked up, he saw there was indeed a spider web in the window. Dropping the paper to the floor, he climbed onto the chair. He saw a black and white spider climb down on a string of silk. "Hello, there! Where did you come from?" He said, holding out his hand for the spider to climb on. "You know, you probably shouldn't build your web up here in the window. Spiker and Sponge might see you, and they hate spiders."

"And bugs!" Anna-Maria added, siding up to James, as he climbed down, to look at their new friend.

"We'll be your friends, though." He said, laying his hand on the chair to let the spider climb onto. Anna-Maria watched the spider crawl around, half-listening to her brother beginning to sing,

_My name is James;  
That's what Mother called me._

He laid the paper flat on the floor and pulled out a floorboard, revealing a small box. Inside was a toy car, some rocks, the boy and grasshopper candle from his birthday cake, and a small tin of bare, used crayons.

_My name is James;  
So it's always been._

He poured the crayons onto the floor and began to color on the paper.

_Sometimes I forget,  
When I'm lonely or afraid.  
Then I'll go inside my head,  
And look for James._

"Here's something we've never shown anyone." James said, taking out the candle and placing it on the chair next to the spider.

"It's a boy widing on a gwasshopper." Anna-Maria told the spider. "The boy has a candle on his head."

James just smiled at his sister's description of the candle, and continued to color the paper.

_There's a city that I dreamed of,  
Very far from here.  
Very, very far away from here,  
Very far away._

_There were people in the city,  
And they come to me  
But it's very, very far away, you know.  
Very far._

Anna-Maria temporarily forgot the spider, and went to look at James' finished drawing. It was the two of them, flying from their aunts' house and over the ocean to New York. He folded it into an origami ball, remembering how his father taught him to do so.

_They'll say James, James, James how are ya?  
Isn't it a lovely day?_

James blew into the ball, blowing it up into a ball, then tied the candle to it so it resembled a hot air balloon.

_James, James, James,  
We're so glad you came here, where we are,  
From so very, very, very far._

Anna-Maria watched as James allowed the spider to crawl on his hands, and as he held his hand up to its web, allowing it to climb back on.

_My name is James, James, James…_

Then he lit the candle with a match, situated his hot air balloon so the candle was inside, and didn't make the paper catch fire, and released it out the open window. He lifted Anna-Maria up so she could look out the window. "Bye-bye, paper ball." She said, waving a little hand at it.

James just set Anna-Maria onto the floor and said, "You better get to bed, Anna-Maria."

Yawning and rubbing one of her eyes, Anna-Maria walked towards the bed. "But I'm not sleepy."

"Good night," James said to the spider. "Pleasant dreams." He closed the window. Both siblings changed into their pajamas and climbed into the bed under the thin sheet they used as a blanket. "Good night, Anna-Maria." James said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Night-night, James." She whispered, kissing him on the cheek in return and going to sleep. James drifted off as well.

* * *

**A/N I had James send Anna-Maria upstairs so I could get into more detail about her. She's the kind of child who can make a toy out of anything; like rocks, charcoal and sticks of wood.**

**As for her dialogue, the most I can do without making it seem as though she is speaking a different language is omitting some letters, and replacing Rs with Ws. I hope she's understandable at least.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**Demonwolf: Thank you :)**

**MonstarzGirl: Thank you :) I'm glad you like her. And you're very welcome :)**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

The next morning, both children were awakened sharply by Aunt Spiker screaming, "Aah! Spider! Vermin! Oh, beast!" She was standing by the window, smacking frantically at the spider with a flyswatter and gasping sharply. She had missed, but managed to smash the spider's web flat.

"No, wait!" James exclaimed, jumping out of the bed. Anna-Maria climbed out of bed as well.

"Sponge!" Aunt Spiker screamed.

"Wait, I'll get it! I'll get it!" James climbed onto the chair, grabbed the spider, and got back down.

"Kill it!" Aunt Spiker exclaimed repeatedly and frantically, following James and smacking him with the swatter. Anna-Maria stayed back against the wall, not wanting to be hit as well.

Aunt Sponge came into the room with bug spray. "Where is it?" She yelled, spraying gray smoke into the room. James was hit in the face, and crashed into Aunt Sponge. They both fell down to the foot of the stairs, unharmed. Anna-Maria ran down as well. She was glad her brother was unarmed, but when James opened his hands, they realized the spider had disappeared. "Spidow?" Anna-Maria whispered, worried it had gotten smashed.

"Get it!" Aunt Sponge yelled. "Get it!" She was lying on her back, and the spider was slowly crawling down the side of her face.

Aunt Spiker ran down the stairs, muttering breathlessly, "Kill it!" She was still wielding her weapon.

"Get it! Get it!" Aunt Sponge screamed. "Get it!"

Just before Aunt Spiker could smack it it, the spider jumped from Aunt Sponge's face, causing the thin aunt to hit her sister in the face with the swatter. James and Anna-Maria watched as it landed on the floor. Anna-Maria ran to grab it, but James picked it up first, and they both ran to the door.

"You hit me in the face." They heard Aunt Sponge said in disbelief as James opened the door, he and Anna-Maria both ran out. "You hit me in the face!"

"Oh, do shut up!" They heard Aunt Spiker yell.

James and Anna-Maria ran from the house and down the stone stairs to a stone wall. There was thick fog on the ground, looking like smoke that had come billowing from a witch's cauldron "Go on, get out of here!" James said breathlessly, laying his hand by the stone wall, allowing the spider to climb off. "Get as far away from this place as you possibly can! Oh, I wish we could." Anna-Maria nodded in agreement.

"What's stopping you?" A voice asked suddenly. James and Anna-Maria stood up, gasping; the toddler hid partly behind her brother, clutching his arm. A peculiar old man was now sitting on the stone wall. He was dressed in black, with countless watched hanging from his coat, and wore gray fingerless gloves.

"Oh, don't be frightened, James," The old man said as if realizing he had frightened the children. "I mean you and your sister no harm."

James looked at him in surprise. "How'd you know my name? And that she's my sister?"

The old man just chuckled softly. "I know more than just your name, and that Anna-Maria's your sister." He stepped down from the wall, and crouched on his heels so he was at eye-level with the children. "What would the two of you say if I were to tell you that the answer to all your troubles is right here," He held up a familiar bag. "Inside this little bag?"

Anna-Maria's eyes lit up. "That James' paper ball!" She exclaimed, coming out from her hiding place.

"Well, of course it is!" The old man said. "Go on, children. Have a look."

James and Anna-Maria looked into the opening of the bag. Inside were glowing, green things that resembled curled earthworms; although these things were certainly no earth worms. They were nestling around; one would jump from side to the other every now and then. And they seemed to be softly squeaking.

"There's more magic in them things," The old man said softly. "Than in all the rest of the world put together."

"But, what _are_ they?" James asked.

"Crocodile tongues."

James' eyes widened; Anna-Maria's round, chubby face screwed in disgust. "Ewww, tongues?"

"One thousand long, slimy crocodile tongues," The old man continued. "Boiled in the skull of a dead witch for twenty days and twenty nights. Add the fingers of a young monkey, the gizzard of a pig, the beak of a parrot, and three spoonfuls of sugar. Stew for a week, and then, let the moon," He closed one eye, and when it opened, to the children's shock, it was completely white. "Do the rest." When he blinked it again, the eye was back to normal. "Have 'em, and marvelous things will happen; things even you two've never dreamt of."

"Like what?" James asked

"Well, like…you'll never be miserable again." The old man, who Anna-Maria officially dubbed "Cwocodile Tongue Man", watched the siblings' faces fall. "And…you and your sister _are_ miserable, aren't you, James? You weren't meant to be, you know. And that place you're dreaming of, it's not as far away as you think." He pushed a stone through the wall until it formed a hole. James and Anna-Maria looked through to see a tall, pointed building surrounded by skyscrapers.

"New York City!" He exclaimed softly in awe.

"And it'll be that much closer," The old man said, suddenly appearing behind the wall and in the children's view. "Once you take the first step."

"But how?" James asked. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Not up here, it doesn't." The old man agreed, pointing to his head. "The answers are in here," He stuck his arm through the hole and pointed a finger to James' chest. "And the magic is in here." Suddenly, he was back on the other side of the wall. "Well, children, what'll it be?"

James looked at Anna-Maria, wondering if he should take the offer. He wanted a better life for himself, of course. But he wanted a better life for his little sister. He promised himself and their dead parents he'd watch over her. And this old man seemed kind enough; kinder than their aunts anyway. He knew about their life, and provided an escape.

James took the bag, but the old man held his hands in his tightly. The tongues squealed in surprise. "Now listen to me, both of you," He said firmly, eyeing them both. "Don't let them get away, because if they do, they'll work their magic on whoever, or whatever they meet first. Understand?"

Both children nodded. A blast of wind blew by, sounding like lightning. "Good." They heard the old man say, sounding satisfied. Leaves and fog blew around them.

"He gone!" Anna-Maria exclaimed. When James looked up, the old man had indeed disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

* * *

**A/N I thought Spiker's reaction to Ms. Spider on the window to be really funny XD**

**I'll bet the old man being kind-albeit mysterious-was a nice change for James, what with him being around two abusive adults.**

**I gave Anna-Maria some dialogue so she doesn't seem invisible, and added her giving the old man a name. I think "Crocodile Tongue Man" sounds perfect XD**

**I dunno 'bout you guys, but I can't wait to write about the bugs :D**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**Demonwolf: It seemed like the proper name XD**

**MonstarzGirl: Me too :D They're the best characters, including James.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

"What's going on out here?" Aunt Spiker yelled.

James stood up, holding a hand over the bag so the tongues didn't escape, and started for the house. Anna-Maria ran after him, struggling to keep up on her short legs. James slipped on one step and fell flat on his face. The bag fell to the ground, and the tongues jumped out.

"Oh! No, wait!" James exclaimed, trying to grab the tongues. They jumped quickly away from and around him, and burrowed quickly into the soil. Anna-Maria tried to grab them too, but they were to fast for her little fingers too.

"Wait!" James muttered. "No! No, wait! Wait, just a-wait." It was no use. They were all gone.

"Here they are." Aunt Spiker snapped. When the children looked up from ground, they saw their aunts, still in their pajamas, standing by the old peach tree.

"Get up, you little worms!" Aunt Sponge yelled. "We sent you two out here to kill a spider!"

"Not to laze about!" Aunt Spiker added.

"He wasn't lazing about," Anna-Maria spoke up before James could stop her. "He twipped."

Aunt Sponge looked down at her from under the tree. "How _dare_ you disagree with us!" She snapped.

"Beat her, Sponge!" Aunt Spiker commanded.

"No!" James exclaimed. "Please, I'm the one who tripped!"

"Beat them both then!" Aunt Spiker decided, coming over to James and Anna-Maria. They stood up, and she held them both by a shoulder in case they tried to run.

Aunt Sponge came around, but sighed, "It's too early."

"Well, that makes you two the luckiest children alive." Aunt Spiker snarled, grabbing them by their pajamas. "Now come inside and get dressed!" She began dragging them both to the house.

Aunt Sponge stretched and yawned, but midway through both activities, she looked up at the peach tree, then exclaimed, "Spiker, look! A peach!"

"A what?" Aunt Spiker asked, exasperated.

"A peach!" Aunt Sponge said again. "There, on that branch!"

James and Anna-Maria looked, and indeed on the highest branch of the old tree that never gave fruit was a large, orange peach with red patches on it.

"Why, that old tree's never had so much as a blossom on it," Aunt Spiker scoffed. "Let alone a—well, I'll be blowed!" She exclaimed softly, releasing James and Anna-Maria and coming over to her sister. "There really _is_ a peach there; a nice, big one too!"

"How can we get it?" Aunt Sponge wondered out loud as the sisters looked up together. They looked at each other and both said, "The boy!" They turned to their nephew, and Aunt Sponge beckoned him over with a fat finger. "Now, you be a good little boy, and climb up there, and get that peach for your dear aunties."

With a push from Aunt Spiker, James came over, gently pushing Anna-Maria back when she tried to follow. "Can we eat it?" James asked hopefully, coming up to the tree. Aunt Spiker held Anna-Maria tightly by the shoulder so she didn't follow.

"Of course we can, we'll share it," Aunt Sponge snapped in James' face, holding him around the waist and holding him up to the tree. "Me and your Aunt Spiker! Now start climbing,"

"Wait!" Aunt Spiker exclaimed, clenching Anna-Maria's shoulders tightly. The three-year-old could feel her aunt's nails piercing her skin through her thin nightshirt.

"What? What," Aunt Sponge asked, exasperated. "What?"

"It's—it's growing!"

"The boy?" Aunt Sponge asked dumbly.

"No, the peach, you idiot! Look!"

Indeed the peach was now growing; quicker than peaches normally grew. It looked as though someone was filling it as though it were a balloon.

When Aunt Sponge saw it, she began pulling at James' waist. "Oh! Come down!"

"But I won't get hurt." James said, reaching for the growing peach.

"Climb down!" She pulled him down.

"James, cwimb down!" Anna-Maria agreed, rubbing her sore shoulder; Aunt Spiker had let go of her shoulder by now.

"What a peach." The thin aunt muttered, holding her hands to her chin. "What a peach!"

It continued to grow quickly, and was now the size of the aunts' antique car. And still it grew. The stem itself grew thicker around as well. "Look, Spiker!" Aunt Sponge exclaimed, holding her aunt's arm. "It's still growing!"

"I'm not blind, you dolt!" She snapped as the tree began to groan and creak under the weight of the growing fruit. "I can see it for myself!" Now the peach was at least twice the size of the car. Both aunts gasped loudly. "Oh! Look at it go!" Aunt Spiker exclaimed, grabbing James' arms, who was holding Anna-Maria close, who was hugging her brother in fright. "It's a miracle!"

Now the peach was so big and heavy, it actually touched the ground, making the tree bend under its weight. "It's coming down!" Aunt Sponge yelled. "Stand back!"

All four of them back away as with a great grown, the tree bent down in the middle, allowing the peach to rest fully on the ground. Aunt Sponge whimpered in fright; Aunt Spiker exclaimed, "Oh, my heavens! My—ohh!"

Now the peach was slowing its growth spurt down. By now, it was as big as a house; bigger than the house James and his sister and aunts lived in, in fact. The sisters held each other close, staring at it in awe.

"Marvelous things will happen." James whispered, wondering if his escaped crocodile tongues had anything to do with the giant peach. "Just like he said.

"Cwocodile tongues." Anna-Maria muttered.

"Shut up, you little grubs!" Aunt Spiker snapped. "This has nothing to do with either of you, so both of you just keep away from it!"

James just looked at her oddly. "Oh, can you smell that, Spikey?" Aunt Sponge asked, smelling the peach. "It smells delicious!" Just as she went to take a bite, Aunt Spiker pulled her back.

"No!" She snapped. "It smells like… money." Both sisters exchanged a knowing grin.

Hours later, after a tall fence had been built around the peach, hundreds of people came up to see it. The two aunts—now dressed in beige trench coats and pants, red scarves and green hats with a single red tassel, and their hair was curled—had begun charging for tickets for admission. "Roll up, roll up!" Aunt Sponge yelled through a megaphone. "See the giant peach! The eight wonder of the word! Have your money ready, ladies and gentlemen! Chance of a lifetime! Ten bob only!"

James was sitting up in his room on the chair by the window. A single tear ran down his cheek as he watched the crowd of men, women and children. The aunts had sent him and Anna-Maria up to their rooms, saying haughtily that they would only cause trouble. James and Anna-Maria begged to be allowed to play with the children, but the aunts sent them up anyway.

Anna-Maria was sitting on the bed, crying. She had called them "Meanie Aunts" again by accident, and had been slapped harshly.

Hours later, just as the evening began approaching, the crowd began to thin. "Come along, children!" Aunt Sponge yelled. "Last chance of the day!"

James still watched on, feeling very sad, lonely—despite his sister—and horrible. Anna-Maria had ceased her crying, yet was still sniffling.

None of them knew something extraordinary would happen to them that would change their lives forever, and for the better.

* * *

**A/N Anna-Maria isn't scared to defend her brother, although she can sometimes go too far. Plus, for the future, she's also prone to tantrums if she doesn't get what she wants. But she calms down quick, and forgets it.**

**In case anyone was wondering, I LOVE peaches :D I love them plain, and in peach cobbler...great, now I want peaches XD**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: Well, wait no more :D**

**Demonwolf: Thank you :)**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

That night, when the aunts came in and were counting their money, James and Anna-Maria heard their Aunt Sponge call in a sing-song voice, "Yoo-hoo! Come down here!"

James stepped down, holding Anna-Maria's hand as she toddled alongside him. "Yes, Auntie Sponge?" They both said.

"Oo-ooh! You two are all spiffed up." She said.

Indeed, James and Anna-Maria were dressed in their best clothes. James had a black suit, tan pants that ended between his knees and ankles, black shoes and socks, a white dress shirt, and a patchwork tie. Anna-Maria wore a little dress that flowed around her knees; ironically, it was peach-colored. She also had white socks and black shoes.

"We wanted to pway with the childwen." Anna-Maria explained.

The aunts glanced at each other, saying, "Awww." The Aunt Spiker told the toddler, "The children have gone."

Anna-Maria looked up at her brother, her lip quivering. "But the two of you can play with their garbage." She said, taking the bristles off of a broom, and handing the wooden stick to James. Aunt Sponge chuckled, muttering, "Garbage. Heh-heh-heh."

James wordlessly picked up a large wooden bucket and slung the strings on it over his shoulders. "And don't either of you think of going near our peach." Aunt Spiker said before they went out.

"'Cause if you do," Aunt Sponge said slyly. "Remember, they never did catch that rhino." Both aunts chuckled at this. James just sighed as he and his little sister left the house.

"James?" Anna-Maria asked as James began picking up the garbage with his stick and putting it in the bucket.

"What?"

"Will the whino eat us?"

James patted her shoulder. "No, Anna-Maria, it won't." But even he wasn't sure. He stabbed a piece of garbage repeatedly, but he couldn't get it with the stick. When Anna-Maria picked it up, she squealed, "Cwocodile tongue bag!" She handed it to her brother.

It was indeed the bag the old man gave them. Wondering if there was at least one or two tongues left, leaning the broomstick against the fence surrounding the peach, James ripped it open. Two tongues glowed bright green, hopped to the ground, and bounced like a spring towards the peach. "No!" James exclaimed, dropping the bag and running after them. "Wait a minute! Wait!" Anna-Maria toddled after him.

He knelt by the peach and tried to grab the tongues, but they had disappeared. He sighed disappointed, but noticed he and Anna-Maria were near the peach. They stood up and inhaled its sweet scent deeply. "Smells good." Anna-Maria whispered.

James nodded. Then, looking to see that no one was watching them, he took a big handful of the slimy flesh from the peach, broke a small piece from it, and gave it to Anna-Maria. They both took big bites; Anna-Maria simply put her piece into her mouth. None of them noticed the tongues hop and burrow into the peach bits they ate.

The peach tasted wet and delicious. But they both noticed once they swallowed their bites, they began to feel funny. They forgot about it when there was a noise behind them. Looking, they saw a large hole had formed in the peach; it looked like a tunnel. James pulled the basket off of his back and put it on the ground, then crouched by the hole. It looked big enough for both to crawl in. He lifted Anna-Maria into it, and she crawled in first; James climbed in after her. Behind them, the hole in the peach closed up. It was as if the peach had healed itself.

The tunnel was wet and slippery, and it went up gently. They soon came upon a large piece of paper covering a hole in the pit of the peach. A green light was shining through it. "'Ere, now." A high-pitched female voice sounded. "Where do you think you're goin', Yank?"

"I'm goin' stir-crazy!" A gruff male voice with a sort of accent answered. "I gotta take a look around. Plan our escape from Spiker and Sponge."

"Escape? To where?" Another male voice—this one sounding worried—cried out. "We'll all be squashed…swatted…smooshed!"

A silhouette of what looked like a grasshopper appeared, startling James and Anna-Maria. "No one's going to 'smoosh' you, my dear boy." It said in a British accent. "You're six feet long now."

It disappeared. Then a silhouette of what looked to be a snake with glasses appeared. "Bigger target." It said in the worried voice.

"Let the biddies come!" Now a tall, thin silhouette—this one having multiple arms, antennae, and a hat—appeared, scaring off the previous shadow, snapping claws. "I'll take 'em both on! I'm indefeatable! I'm indivisible! I'm—"

Anna-Maria had been holding out her hand to the shadows. James lunged forward to grab her, and both siblings fell through the paper, screaming. "In trouble!" They landed on the tall, thin, multi-armed creature, were thrown onto the grasshopper, who kicked them onto the snake, and slid off of that and landed on the ground. "It's Spiker and Sponge!" The snake exclaimed in fright. "They've found us!"

James stood up, with Anna-Maria hugging him, but was knocked to the ground by a lantern swinging by. Something in the lantern yelled out, "Helloo!"

"Oh, no," The grasshopper said, holding what looked like a monocle. But James and Anna-Maria couldn't tell because in the dim green light, they could only see silhouettes and glowing eyes and mouths. "It's the children from the house. What were their names?"

"Miserable Ticks!" The multi-armed creature said, popping up suddenly, holding a lit cigar in the corner of his wide mouth.

"I thought it was Rotten Little Grubs." The snake spoke up.

"No, that's what those horrible aunts call them." A huge, round creature resembling a ladybug flew by and landed by the siblings, scaring them. "Their real names are…well it's, eh, eh…"

A huge spider popped down from the ceiling. "It's James and Anna-Maria." It said in a female voice with a French accent. James and Anna-Maria fell back, screaming.

"Look what you've done now, miss," The ladybug chided in a female voice, coming over. "Scared them to death."

"Please!" James pleaded hiding away. "Don't eat us!"

"Eat you?" They all laughed. "Hey, Glowworm!" One of them yelled. "Turn up your lights!" He clapped two hands. The room lit up with normal light as the Glowworm sighed. She was sitting in the lantern, and was wearing an old brown dress, and had glasses on a stick in one of her four fingers.

Now seeing properly, James and Anna-Maria could see the inhabitants of the peach were insects; huge, human-sized insects. There was a tall, old, green grasshopper dressed in a black suit, a white dress shirt, beige pants, and brown shoes, and was indeed wearing a monocle.

The snake was an earthworm, wearing black glasses, as he was blind, a white collar, and a red bow.

The multi-armed creature was a centipede. He had an off-white shirt, a flat, green hat, brown pants held up by suspenders, and brown boots. He had a cigar in his mouth.

There was also a ladybug, wearing a red sun hat with black spots, a black band with white spots, and a flower. She also had a black blouse with white spots, a short skirt, white petticoats and socks, black shoes, and was carrying a red purse.

The spider had a black and white striped abdomen, black boots at the end of six of her eight legs, a green bandana around her neck and a green beret. Her eyes had two green eyeballs in each.

"I'm a vegetarian." Mr. Grasshopper said.

"I eat dirt." Earthworm spoke up.

"No one will be eating you or your sister, James." Ms. Spider said kindly before Mr. Centipede hit her aside.

"Yeah, she'll just puncture your heads and suck out the brains!" He said.

Ms. Spider came down in front of him, frowning. "That, I am saving for you." She went to grab him, but he slid down under and behind her.

"Whoa! Pretty fast, long legs." He grinned. She spun around and hissed at him, scaring him up a ladder.

Anna-Maria giggled at the funny sight, feeling a little better. Mrs. Ladybug, however, frowned at the two. "Oh, such rude behavior!" She took a handkerchief out of her purse and wiped off James' face. "There's no need to be frightened, dearies."

"But, you're enormous bugs!" James exclaimed, finally finding his voice.

"Huge!" Anna-Maria added, standing and holding out her arms.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Mr. Grasshopper asked, standing beside the ladybug.

"We've all changed," Mrs. Ladybug said, searching through her purse before pulling out a red mirror and holding it to James. "And so have you and your sister, James."

They both gasped at their reflections. They looked like china dolls, but unlike the white dolls, they themselves were still colored. James had an oval-shaped head that was bigger than normal, scruffy brown hair, and round, black eyes. Anna-Maria's face was heart-shaped, her light brown hair was in little ringlets, and her eyes were big, round and black as well.

"The old man," James said, standing and taking the mirror, looking at his reflection. "The one who gave us the green things—he said marvelous things will happen."

"Cwododile tongues." Anna-Maria said.

"Did he say, 'Marvelous pigs in satin'?" The Glowworm asked.

"No, dear lady." Mr. Grasshopper shook his head, and took a megaphone Mrs. Ladybug handed him. "'Marvelous things will happen.'" He said through the megaphone, then handed it back and said, "Poor Glowworm. She's a little deaf."

"I, however, have exquisite hearing." Earthworm said proudly, puffing out his chest, or where his chest would be.

"Yeah?" Mr. Centipede grinned mischievously. "Well, listen to this," He made flatulent noises with some of his twelve arms, sounding like a fanfare, then screamed in the megaphone, "Let's get outta here!"

Everyone covered their ears; Anna-Maria yelled, "Too loud!"

"You mean leave the hill?" James asked once everyone's ears stopped ringing. "We can't! The rhino will get us."

"Rhino?" Earthworm exclaimed, frightened, and hid in a large glove with only his tail sticking out.

"I say, dear boy," Mr. Grasshopper chuckled. "I've lived on this miserable hill for decades. There are no rhinoceri here."

"Except for Sponge." Mr. Centipede spoke up, coming up behind Mrs. Ladybug and jumping around her so he was in front of the children. "She's _twice_ as big as a rhino, eh, kid?" He chuckled, ruffling Anna-Maria's hair. Both children giggled. They were feeling better around the bugs, and both took a liking to the rascally centipede. And it was good to hear genuine laughter, and not the evil chuckling they heard around their aunts.

"And twice as dangerous." Ms. Spider sighed. "My life hangs by a thread every day."

"I've had to send all 300 of me children to safer pastures." Mrs. Ladybug said sadly.

"Hah!" Earthworm laughed bitterly, crawling out of the glove. "You think hiding in solid rock is fun?"

"We can't even remember what fun is." James said, hugging Anna-Maria. Mr. Grasshopper crouched down beside them.

"Well, it's because you and your sister've been stuck here too long." Mr. Centipede said, circling the siblings. "Listen to me, kids, I know a place that'll refresh your memories." He ran on the hand on a giant sundial in the middle of the floor, leapt up and grabbed the Glowworm's lantern, and began swinging around on it. The Glowworm's tail began glowing pink as the centipede began singing,

_Bright lights, big city,  
That's where we gotta go._

He jumped down and slid on his knees to Mrs. Ladybug, James, Anna-Maria, and Mr. Grasshopper.

_Where the food is great, and the bugs are so pretty,_

He tilted Anna-Maria's chin up a little, making her giggle, and took Mrs. Ladybug's hands, pulling her into the middle of the sundial. He swung her around in a dance, making her spin.

_I'd like to get my arms around a hundred or so.  
I'd hug 'em, squeeze 'em, hold 'em tight.  
Sleep all day, dance all night,_

He tossed Earthworm onto Mrs. Ladybug's shoulders. When she stopped spinning, and was teetering a little, dizzily, the earthworm was on her shoulders like a feather boa. Then he ran up the wall and did a back flip, still singing.

_I want the bright lights, and the big city.  
That's the life for me, yeah._

He ran up the sundial hand and did another back flip, accidentally landing in Ms. Spider's web.

_That's the life for-_

Ms. Spider approached him as the lights turned blue. She took his cigar, lit a match on his face, and lit the cigar with it.

_You little maggot,  
Have you never seen the moon,  
Gliding 'cross the western sky?_

She waved the cigar, making a crescent moon-shaped smoke shape. Then she made another shape; this one looked like an old tree.

_A dead oak tree by the waterside?_

She inhaled the cigar, then blew out smoke, making it billow into the air.

_Putrid vapors rising…_

Coughing, Mrs. Ladybug fanned away the smoke, and spoke up,

_That sounds lovely, dear,  
I'm sure we all agree,  
But I prefer the sunshine,  
A little park right in the center of the town._

The Glowworm's tail lit like the sun as she vocalized softly. Mrs. Ladybug took flowers out of her purse and threw them up into the air.

_Flowers everywhere, children all around me,  
I'd love it!  
Landing on a baby's cheek, so warm,_

She let James smell one white flower, and gave a red one to Anna-Maria, who giggled and danced around with her brother, both enjoying the whole show.

_It's wonderful, wonderful,  
That's the life for me.  
That's the life for me.  
That's the life, that's the life for me._

Mrs. Ladybug took out a top hat and cane from her purse, and threw them to Mr. Grasshopper, who was standing on the ladder. He caught them, put the hat on, and held the cane in his lower hands. Then he started down the ladder, singing,

_Elegant conversation,_

Mr. Centipede popped in and said, "Bright lights, big city." Mr. Grasshopper kicked him away.

_An elevated point of view,_

Mr. Centipede popped up again. "That's where I'd go," Mr. Grasshopper hit him on the head with his cane, making him retreat.

_Intellectual stimulation,_

"Yeah, maybe for you." Mr. Centipede scoffed before scurrying away to not be hit or kicked again.

_And someone you love to share it with you._

Mr. Grasshopper handed James his hat as he, Mr. Centipede, and Mrs. Ladybug danced around on the sundial, the lights turning blue again.

_It would be wonderful, wonderful,  
That's the life for me._

"You call that a life?" Earthworm asked.

_That's the life for me._

"It's no pile of dirt."

_That's the life,  
That's the life,  
That's the life,  
That's the life for-_

"Where are you two brats hiding at?" Aunt Sponge yelled outside.

* * *

**A/N This is officially my longest chapter written for this story.**

**I had fun writing out the insects :D At least Anna-Maria is comfortable around them :)**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: I'm glad :D**

**Entei. RAWR: Thanks :D I think the Centipede, since he's my favorite of the insects. I'm not sure if there's an easiest or hardest...**

**Demonwolf: I like adding details :) Really? XD I find it adorable too :3 I think soon, she'll have ALL the bugs wrapped around her little finger XD**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

At the sound of the aunt's voice, the light turned to normal, and everyone cringed in fear. Anna-Maria grabbed someone in fear. Instead of grabbing James, as she intended, she had grabbed Mr. Grasshopper's leg. She didn't care though; she was scared.

Mr. Centipede hopped to the ladder. "Time to go make a pest of myself." He chuckled, climbing up.

Upon seeing him leave, Anna-Maria forgot her fear and ran to follow him. "Wait fo' me!" She cried.

James grabbed her arm though. "You aren't going out there!" He exclaimed. "They'll see you, and you'll get into trouble."

"I wanna go with Centipede!" She complained, jumping in place. Her little, chubby face began to turn red.

"Oh, no, you aren't," Mr. Grasshopper said, lifting her up and holding her up high. "You're staying with us."

Anna-Maria giggled at being lifted up high, forgetting her mini-tantrum. "Wheee!" She laughed.

"Where are you?" Aunt Spiker yelled. "Detestable little worms."

At that, Earthworm screamed in fright and hid. "Not you," James said worried. "Us."

Anna-Maria whimpered, still in Mr. Grasshopper's arms, but not high up in the air anymore.

"You two had better not be near our peach!" Aunt Sponge threatened.

"Oh, please, don't let them spray us!" Mrs. Ladybug pleaded.

"Spray us?" Earthworm scoffed. "They'll see the Yank up there, and come after us with a shovel. It happened to my brother."

"How awful." James said.

"Split him right down the middle. Now I have two half-brothers."

"Shhh," Mr. Grasshopper hissed, putting Anna-Maria to the ground. "They'll hear us."

Up on top, Mr. Centipede pushed open a door in the peach flesh, similar to a hatch. He looked around before he heard Aunt Sponge call out, "Yoo-hoo. Where are you two? I think I hear a rhino out here."

_Guess he wasn't kiddin' 'bout the rhino._ Mr. Centipede thought to himself, since the aunts were threatening James and Anna-Maria with it. He then noticed the peach was still attached to the tree by the thick stem. He got an idea. "Ahh, this'll be a snap." He grinned, getting to work.

There was a saw-like noise. "Wait," He heard Aunt Spike whisper. "I really do hear something."

Up on the peach, holding his hat in one hand, Mr. Centipede was using the pincers on his head to cut the peach stem. Once it was almost all the way through, he stopped, letting it break itself. "Timber." He whispered, jumping back away from the stem. Once it broke, he put his hat back on and jumped back down the hatch. The peach began to move with a great groan, making the room move.

"What's that?" James exclaimed.

"Fasten your seatbelts, kids!" Mr. Centipede grinned.

Outside, the aunts had seen the peach had broken from its stem, and was beginning to roll. They both screamed, "Ahhh! The car!" and ran for their car.

The room inside the peach pit continued to move, and began turning as though the peach was rolling. "We're turning!" James exclaimed.

"Wha-wha-wha-what have you done?" Earthworm moaned in fright.

The peach rolled slowly through the fence surrounding it, flattening it as though it were simple playing cards, and rolled towards the aunts' idling car. It rolled over it, smashing it, and continued to roll down the hill, picking up speed as it went. Inside, the insects and James and Anna-Maria were walking forward so the wouldn't fall. But as the peach began to go faster, it became impossible, and they fell to the floor…or ceiling.

"Someone grab Anna-Maria before she gets hurt!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed.

Mr. Centipede was nearest to her. He picked her up in four of his arms. "Gotcha!" He said before turning and falling back. Anna-Maria wasn't frightened at all; on the contrary, she was laughing and clapping her hands as though this was a simple ride at the carnival. "Oh, you like this, huh?" Mr. Centipede grinned.

"It's fun!" She answered. But as the peach rolled faster and faster, it became less and less fun. Everyone was flying around the room like snow in a turning snow globe. "Here, stomach!" Mr. Centipede groaned, still holding Anna-Maria, who began to grow frightened. "Here, stomach! Here, stomach!"

The peach rolled through town, and smashed through a farmer's fence. Everyone was either moaning frightened, or moaning sickly. "I'm gonna be sick!" Mr. Centipede yelled. Anna-Maria tried not to think of that; she clutched his shirt and suspenders, and buried her face in his chest.

As it rolled down the hill and towards an upturned cliff, the peach rolled over a fence. It stuck in and stuck out the sides. The peach rolled up the hill and flew high up in the air. It stayed up for a second or two before falling quickly into the ocean, splashing loudly.

* * *

**A/N Back to short chapters :/**

**Anna-Maria, like I said before, is stubborn, and will through a tantrum if she doesn't get her way. Usually, it's yelling and jumping or stomping her feet. If she gets really upset, or is just tired (I never got why people say if a kid's throwing a big tantrum, they need a nap) she'll do what any toddler will do: throw herself onto the floor and scream and kick. But if something distracts her, she forgets.**

**I never really knew what Centipede said before he said he was going to be sick (why is it funny when someone says they're gonna be sick?) I thought it was something like, "Incoming!" The transcript I found said he was saying, "Here, stomach!" I guess that makes sense, since if you're on an elevator, or go down really fast, you need to "let your stomach catch up to you"**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: I've actually been reading it. I like it :)**

**Demonwolf: I'm sure you remember my DA responce ^^; I'm human, I guess, so I'm prone to mistakes.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Once the peach had finally stopped spinning, and everyone had woken up, they were moaning and groaning in pain. There was no light, so no one knew what was going on in the pitch-black dark.

"Ow! Somebody pinched me!"

"Sorry, I thought you were the spider."

"Ouch! What was that?"

"Excuse, I thought you were the centipede."

"Where's Anna-Maria?"

"I got her right here, kid. Hey, Glowworm, how about some light?"

"I can't hear you, dear; I have to put my light on."

Soon enough, the light came back on. The Glowworm's lantern, with her still in it, was on its side on the floor. Mr. Grasshopper and Centipede were both on top of it, upper halves hanging off the edge; the latter was still holding Anna-Maria, who had somehow moved so she was sitting on the centipede's waist. Ms. Spider was on top of both, with James hanging by the back of his jacket on one of her legs. Earthworm was on the floor near the lantern. Nearby, Mrs. Ladybug was on her back on the floor. "Oh! Oh! This is so un-ladybug-like." She whimpered, waving her arms around.

James untangled his coat from Ms. Spider's leg, hopped to the ground, and went around behind her, pushing her to her feet. "Don't worry; I'll have you right-side up in no time."

"Oh! Thank you, James." She said. When he went for the ladder, she asked, "Where are you going?"

"To see where we've landed."

The other bugs untangled themselves. Mr. Centipede set Anna-Maria to the ground. "You ok, princess?" He asked.

She nodded, wide-eyed, "Mm-hmmm."

"Was it fun?"

She shook her head quickly, "Mm-mmm!"

"Well, it wasn't fun for any of us." Mr. Grasshopper said, patting her on the head.

Mr. Centipede looked around, scratching his head. "Anyone seen my hat?" He turned to Anna-Maria when she started giggling. She had found and was wearing his hat, although it was big on her.

"I think you need to grow a bit more." Mr. Centipede said, taking the hat and putting on his own head. Then he lifted Anna-Maria up and put her on his shoulders before following Ms. Spider up the ladder. He heard the other bugs exclaiming in awe at where they were. Earthworm asked Mr. Grasshopper what was so fascinating.

"We're in the middle of the—how do you say? The big puddle." Ms. Spider said.

Mr. Centipede poked his head out to see they were in the middle of the ocean. Anna-Maria, holding his head so she didn't fall, gazed around with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Ooh! Pwetty!" She gaped

"Biggest puddle of 'em all, angel fangs:" Mr. Centipede said, ignoring Ms. Spider's glare. "The Atlantic Ocean."

"Technically, the Pacific is larger." Mr. Grasshopper corrected him.

"Well...that goes without saying."

"But there is land in sight?" Earthworm asked hopefully.

"Nothing but blue skies and clear waters." Mrs. Ladybug said.

Earthworm groaned in frustration, and turned sharply to Mr. Centipede, just as he was setting Anna-Maria on the peach. "This is all _your_ fault!" The worm snapped, thrusting his head at the centipede, making him step back onto the hatch.

"Hey!" Mr. Centipede protested. "If it wasn't for me, we'd all be spiked and sponged by now!"

"This old man with his green things," Ms. Spider said to James. "Did he happen to speak to where we are going?"

"No. All he said was the answers would be right here." The boy answered, pointing to his heart. Anna-Maria copied him. James felt and heard something crinkle in his coat pocket. He pulled out something that should have been ripped to pieces. "Our travel book!" He exclaimed softly. Opening it, instead of a marked route to America, the peach was in the ocean near the shore of the United Kingdom. "And look! It's the peach!" He stood on the stem of the beach and exclaimed, "We're going to New York City!"

Anna-Maria clapped her hands with joy. Mr. Centipede spat out his cigar into his hand. "New York! They love me there!" He grinned.

"Wonderful! They've got a whole park full of leaves for you, Miss Ladybug," James said.

"Central Park!" Mr. Centipede spoke up.

"And loads of dark hiding places," James told Ms. Spider.

"Nightclubs!"

"And museums, and concerts," James said to Mr. Grasshopper.

"Not to mention Yankee Stadium." The centipede grinned.

"What about me?" Earthworm asked.

"Why, they've got miles and miles of underground tunnels!" James told him, making him gasp with delight.

"The subway!" Mr. Centipede said.

"Our father says it's the place where dreams come true." James concluded.

"That's the life for me!" Mr. Centipede suddenly broke into song.

"That's the life for me." Mrs. Ladybug sang.

"That's the life for me." Mr. Grasshopper and Centipede sang together.

"That's the life for me!" Mrs. Ladybug and Ms. Spider both sang.

"That's the life," James joined in.

"That's the life, that's the life, that's the life, that's the life for me!" Everyone finished. Even Anna-Maria joined in, singing, "That the life fo' me!"

"New York it is then!" Mr. Grasshopper announced. "Now, how do we get there?"

"I'll get us there!" Mr. Centipede said confidently.

"You?"

"Sure! I've sailed all the five seas; from the sun-drenched shores of Bora Bora, to the icy shores of Tripoli." He bragged, not noticing the grasshopper yawn. "'Commodore Centipede' they used to call me."

"Seven."

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"There are seven seas, and Tripoli is in the subtropics, Commodore." Mr. Grasshopper corrected him, twitching his antennae.

Shrugging it off, Mr. Centipede yelled out, "Trim the sails!"

"There are no sails. Mrs. Ladybug said.

"Stoke the engines!"

"There are no engines." Earthworm said dully.

"I can't work with this miserable crew." Mr. Centipede said frustrated, throwing his hat to the ground. He eventually picked it back up though.

"Great! We're stuck here, until we shrivel up and die." Earthworm moaned.

"Highly improbable," Mr. Grasshopper said.

"That's a relief." Mrs. Ladybug said with relief.

Then the insect continued. "We're far more likely to drown."

Mrs. Ladybug gasped, "Oh no!"

James looked around, trying to think of something do to about the situation. He heard seagulls cawing overhead. Anna-Maria saw them too. "Look," She said, tugging on Mr. Grasshopper's pants leg and pointing up. "Birdies!"

"Yes," He chuckled lightly, patting her on the head. "They are seagulls."

"Seagulls." She repeated, as she liked to repeat words she heard.

_Seagulls?_ "I know!" James exclaimed. "We could—no," He then sighed. "It's a stupid idea."

"Compared to what?" Mr. Grasshopper said bitterly, glancing at Mr. Centipede.

"Hey!" He protested, making Anna-Maria giggle.

"Well, we _could_ fly out." James continued.

Mr. Grasshopper hummed in thought, tapping his chin. "He's right," Mr. Centipede said, tapping some ash off of his cigar. "It's stupid."

Mr. Grasshopper glared at him. "How would _you_ do it, James?" Mrs. Ladybug encouraged him.

"With those seagulls," James said. "But we'll need string."

"Stwing." Anna-Maria repeated, grinning proudly.

"Oh, well, I'll just go to the stationer's and pick up some paper clips while I'm at it." Earthworm said sarcastically.

"I have string," Ms. Spider offered. "Miles of string."

"And we'll need bait;" James concluded. "Bird bait."

"Bird bait." Anna-Maria repeated.

"Bird bait?" Earthworm exclaimed incredulously, not noticing the bugs looking directly at him. "Where do you expect we're gonna find bird bait out here in the middle of the…the…" He trailed to a stop when he heard a small cow bell clanging behind him. He began to grow nervous. "Oh, no. No, no! Have you lost your minds?"

* * *

**A/N I haven't updated for a week because I'm working on a couple of new stories (only writing out the plot for one, and thinking up ideas for the other) and getting over a cold.**

**Since toddlers like to repeat things, Anna-Maria sometimes does as well.**

**I think I left off at a good point :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: I did too XD I laugh every time.**

**Demonwolf: I think you told me; how she quoted that movie with a bad word? Yikes XD Thanks :D**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

In time, nearly everyone was down in the peach. Earthworm, with the bell tied around his neck, had his head poking out of the hatch, and was lying on the peach. Mr. Centipede and James were directly under him, the former on the ladder and holding the earthworm's middle in eight of his arms, and the latter in a hollow in the tunnel. Down in the peach pit, Mr. Grasshopper and Mrs. Ladybug had hold of Earthworm's tail, waiting for James to yell to pull him down.

Anna-Maria had wanted to help. Of course, the others told her she had to stay in the pit. She threw a mini-tantrum—stomping her feet, screaming she wanted to help, and crying—before James said she could help Mr. Grasshopper and Mrs. Ladybug to pull Earthworm. Wiping her tears away, Anna-Maria agreed; and so ended her tantrum.

"They've lost their minds!" Earthworm cried out, barely moving his head. "Anything but birds!"

"Don't worry," James said from the tunnel, holding a string to grab a seagull and tie it to the peach stem. "I'm right here. Now wiggle."

"No!"

"But they won't come if you don't wiggle." James protested.

"Exactly, and you can't make me." Earthworm said stubbornly.

"Oh, yeah?" Mr. Centipede grinned. He began tickling the worm, making him squirm around something fierce and laugh. This made the bell ring loudly.

"Hey, no fair!" He laughed, even though he was growing nervous. "Mocking birds munched me mother!"

From the opening, James could see a lone seagull come flying down. "Here comes the first one," James whispered, patting Earthworm's abdomen. He then said to the others, "Get ready to pull down there."

As the bird flew down closer, it could hear Earthworm crying out between laughs, "My sisters were swallowed by swallows!"

"Pull!" James yelled.

"Pull! Pull! Pull!" Anna-Maria sang, jumping around, forgetting her "job".

Not paying her any mind, Mr. Grasshopper and Mrs. Ladybug pulled sharply on Earthworm's tail, pulling him down the hatch so quickly, he seemed to disappear. James managed to loop the string around the seagull's neck, and tie the opposite end to the stem. The seagull was pulled to a stop once the string ended, and squawked in surprised.

"It worked!" James exclaimed happily. "I got one!"

"Shh! I hear teeth!" Earthworm hissed, down in the tunnel. "Great. Big. Gnashing. Teeth!"

James looked out to see a whirlpool in the water, a great distance away. "Sounds like a rhinoceros!" He exclaimed in fright.

"In the ocean?" Mr. Grasshopper said, having come out of the hatch beside the boy. "Uh, scientifically impossible." He concluded as Mr. Centipede came out as well.

"I hear something too." Ms. Spider said nervously in her web. Anna-Maria whimpered in fright, huddling close to Mrs. Ladybug.

Glancing nervously at Mr. Centipede, Mr. Grasshopper looked through his monocle like a telescope to see fish trying to jump straight out of the whirlpool, only to fall and get sucked in. "It's a school of Tuna," He said. "They're being sucked into some sort of machine."

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Take a look." The insect offered him his monocle. Through it, James saw a giant, mechanical shark heave up out of the whirlpool, and flop down into the water, floating like a boat. The whirlpool, caused by the machine, had stopped.

"It's a giant shark!" James exclaimed as the tip of its dorsal fin opened, and plates with two fish heads each flew out and onto the ocean, floating about. Its tail extended to twice its length as a sort of alarm began blaring, and smoke came from a pipe poking out the back of its dorsal fin.

Mr. Centipede took the monocle and looked through it too. "It's seemed to have spotted us!" He exclaimed nervously, making Mr. Grasshopper gasp.

Indeed, the shark turned and began swimming towards the peach. "What do we do?" He cried, dropping the monocle and grabbing James' head from behind in fright. "What do we do?"

"The seagulls; it's our only chance!" The boy said, prying the centipede's arms off of his face.

"It would take the whole flock, and then some." Mr. Grasshopper said, recovering his monocle. "We'll never do it in time."

This made Mr. Centipede hug his hat instead of James' head. "We'll need Ms. Spider's web for a net," James said quickly. "Hurry!"

Hearing that, Ms. Spider began taking down her web and bundling it up. "Throw it here, dearie!" Mrs. Ladybug yelled, catching the bundle and tossing it up to James. He hid near the stem while Mr. Centipede stepped behind the open hatch lid.

"Wiggle, Mr. Earthworm!" James pleaded. "Our lives depend on it!"

"I can't, I'm all wiggled out." He said wearily, ducking into the tunnel.

Groaning in frustration, Mr. Centipede grabbed him and pulled him back out. "Here, let me help you." He grinned sinisterly. Deaf to the earthworm's frightened screams, he tossed him up, grabbed his tail, and began swinging him around as much as he could, making the bell ring loudly. "Come and get it!" He yelled to the seagulls. "Get your fresh, hot wienie!"

The seagulls, hearing the bell and Mr. Centipede's yells, and seeing the worm, began to fly down. Meanwhile, the shark continued to swim closer.

"Come on, baby!" Mr. Centipede muttered. Once the flock got close enough, he jumped back down the hatch. At the same time, James through the net out, catching the seagulls like a school of fish.

"I got 'em!" He exclaimed. "Hand me the loops!"

Ms. Spider and Mrs. Ladybug threw up long strings the former had been spinning. James tie them to the stem, and he, Mr. Grasshopper, and Centipede began tying the opposite ends on the seagulls' necks, one neck and string at a time. "Hurry!"

"Shake a leg there!" Mr. Grasshopper snapped.

"Keep your pants on!" Mr. Centipede exclaimed. "I've only got twelve hands."

As they worked, the shark kept swimming, nearing the peach second by second. "It's getting closer!" Earthworm cried out from in the tunnel.

Once the seagulls were all harnessed to the peach stem, they pulled the net off of them, letting them fly into the air. "Seagulls away!" Mr. Centipede yelled.

With the whole flock of hundreds of seagulls, the peach slowly began to rise out of the water. As if sensing this, a mini cannon protruded from the shark's throat. From this cannon, a little mechanical shark with a harpoon nose, connected to the bigger shark with a strong, metal cable, flew to the peach. It flew so fast and strong, it shoved its way through the peach flesh and pit. Ms. Spider and Mrs. Ladybug gasped when the harpoon tip appeared; Anna-Maria screamed and hid behind both of them.

"Oh, no!" James cried.

"Oh, dear!" Mr. Grasshopper exclaimed.

Now the peach was tethered to the shark. The giant fruit was pulled sharply to a stop. Mr. Centipede toppled over the edge, yelling. He landed on the cable on his back, then bounced up and nearly fell into the ocean. He managed to grab the cable, and then nabbed his hat.

Out of the shark's nostril popped a little shark with chomping jaw. It flew over the centipede, who had hooked one leg over the cable, and flew towards the peach, chomping through some of the strings holding the seagulls to the stem. "They're getting away!" James cried as five birds began flying away, with the strings trailing behind them.

"Hop on, James!" Mr. Grasshopper exclaimed. Once James was on his back—like his birthday candle, he later realized—the insect jumped as hard as he could. He was able to make it to where they could grab the strings. "Now, nab them!" He grabbed four of them with all four of his hands, and James grabbed the last one. The seagulls squawked in surprise at being tugged back down.

Two more chomping sharks came out from the shark's nose. This time, they were headed for James and Mr. Grasshopper. "Help!" They cried.

Mrs. Ladybug crawled out of the tunnel in the peach and flew up beside the grasshopper, sounding like a plane. When the sharks came up, she smacked them aside with her purse, yelling, "Hooligans! Ruffians!" The sharks fell away with crumpled noses. "Degenerates!" She huffed.

Quickly handing James his four strings, Mr. Grasshopper landed on the peach and bent forward, throwing James off of his back. He landed on his feet with a grunt, and tied the strings back on the stem. The seagulls returned to their flock. "Come on, seagulls!" James cried.

"Put your backs into it!" Mr. Grasshopper yelled, pushing Earthworm, who had crawled out by now, down.

"Shake your bloomin' tail feathers!" Mrs. Ladybug screamed, unknowingly in the poor grasshopper's ears. He covered them with his hands as his antennae were blown aside as if he was standing next to a fan.

The shark began pulling the cable back down his throat, pulling the peach towards it. Mr. Centipede inched up the cable, eyeing the machine. "Good sharky," He muttered nervously. "Nice sharky,"

Inside the peach pit, Ms. Spider grabbed a mallet and approached the shark harpoon. "Stay back!" She snapped to Anna-Maria. The toddler nodded, staying against the opposite wall. She didn't want to be anywhere near that scary thing.

The cable jerked, making Mr. Centipede lose his grip slightly. He yelled in surprise; as he began sliding towards the shark, he screamed, "Sharky!" He removed his hat and grabbed at the wire with his mandibles—the pincers on his head he used to cut the peach stem with—making sparks fly from it. When he slowed to a stop, he relaxed, sighing in relief. Then he yelled in fright when he realized he was practically in the shark's mouth.

Making sure Anna-Maria was far away from her, Ms. Spider began pounding at the harpoon like it was a nail. Only instead of driving it into something, she was driving it out; out of the peach, that is.

Mr. Centipede stood on the wire like a trapeze artist, and began running up it and towards the peach. The harpoon was hammered out, and he spun in midair, barely grabbing the boards in the peach. He pulled himself up, shoved his hat back on his head, and began running up the path to the top of the peach.

The harpoon had swung back and around the shark's dorsal fin while it was still pulling the wire in. It stalled for a minute, then its teeth were knocked out by the wire, and the machinery inside began tangling up. In a few seconds, BOOM! The shark exploded in a bright, orange light.

The bugs and James cheered from the rising peach. "All right!" Mr. Centipede yelled, jumping back on the board. "Teach ya to mess with _me_, ya overgrown sardine!" He yelled at the remaining pieces of the shark. "I'm from Brooklyn!"

Mr. Grasshopper sat back next to Earthworm, laughing, "Oh, ho-ho! Pure twaddle!" Mr. Centipede gave him a funny look as he continued, "Every bug onboard displayed extraordinary courage. Why, did you see Miss Ladybug risk life and wing, to bash those brutes on the snoot?" He punched the air in emphasis, accidentally hitting Earthworm on the nose.

"Well, they _were_ being very rude." Mrs. Ladybug sniffed. "I can't abide rudeness."

Ms. Spider had come out by now, carrying Anna-Maria, who ran and hugged her brother. "We are all forgetting something," The spider said. "Everything we did was part of the brilliant plan of James."

"It really _did_ work, didn't it?" He grinned.

Mr. Centipede and Earthworm both nodded. "I say three cheers for James!" Mr. Grasshopper said. "Hip-hip,"

"Hooray!" The centipede and earthworm cheered.

"Hip-hip,"

"Hooray!" Mrs. Ladybug and Glowworm, who had popped out of the hatch, cheered as well.

"Hip-hip,"

"Hooray!" Everyone cheered this time; including little Anna-Maria, who cried out, "Hooway!"

Mr. Centipede stood beside the peach stem, taking place as captain. "New York," He spat into three of his hands and rubbed them together before pushing the stem around to steer the seagulls. "Here we come!"

* * *

**A/N I haven't been writing much because when I was getting over my cold, I got laryngitis (again) I seem to be having bad luck; and it's not even winter yet -_- Funnily enough, I wrote this chapter in an hour or two.**

**Even though I felt sorry for the earthworm, I thought the centipede's antics were hilarious XD Especially luring the rest of the birds in XD**

**Even as a little kid watching this, I realized James riding on the grasshopper's back to get the seagulls mirrored his birthday candle. I wonder if that was intentional, or accidental?**

**I felt the situation with the birds and the shark would be too dangerous for Anna-Maria. So I had her stay in the peach pit until all was clear.**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: Thanks :)**

**Demonwolf: Thank you :) I suppose so.**

**I'm actually feeling much better now; I just still have a bit of mucus in my throat, and I wake up with a soar throat that disappears later.**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Soon, they were among the clouds, making it look foggy. While James was by himself on the boardwalk—as they dubbed the fencing stuck in the side of the peach—the bugs kept Anna-Maria where they could see her in the fog. They trusted James to be by himself on the boardwalk, but Anna-Maria was only a toddler, and she could easily fall over the edge. Nonetheless, they told James to be extra careful, and not stay out too long.

Now Anna-Maria was sitting with Mr. Grasshopper and Centipede, and Mrs. Ladybug on the peach. "Well, Anna-Maria," Mr. Grasshopper said, gathering her onto his lap. "How about you tell us something about yourself?"

"I'm thwee!" She declared proudly, holding out three little fingers.

"You mean, 'three years old'." Mrs. Ladybug corrected gently.

"Yeah, tha' too." Anna-Maria nodded.

"They're both such darling children, James and Anna-Maria," Mrs. Ladybug cooed, ruffling the toddler's curly hair. "How could those horrible aunts treat them so terribly?"

"Meanie Aunts!" Anna-Maria scowled, crossing her arms.

"Yes, they certainly were," Mr. Grasshopper chuckled. "But they can't hurt you, or your brother, any longer."

"And if they ever find us, we'll give 'em what for!" Mr. Centipede declared, punching the air. "We won't even let 'em touch either of ya!"

"Pwomise?" She asked.

"Promise." He nodded, patting her head.

"We all promise, dear." Mrs. Ladybug said. "They won't hurt either of you any longer."

Anna-Maria smiled happily. She was glad she and James now had friends who would protect them. She thought, with a giggle, the aunts would run away screaming at the sight of them. They hated bugs, and their friends were human-sized ones.

* * *

Some time later, the peach was sailing over fluffy, light-orange clouds. They were quite pretty to look at. But the only thing Mr. Centipede was thinking about was food; he, like the other passengers of the peach, was very hungry.

"Want…food. Food." He moaned, taking a bite out of his cigar pitifully.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Mr. Grasshopper, who was lounging on the peach, asked. "I don't see how you can navigate without a compass." Mr. Centipede hallucinated that the grasshopper turned into a bottle of whine and piece of cheese.

Gaping wide-eyed, the centipede rubbed his eyes and glanced at Earthworm, who was lying back on the peach. "It's very hot up here," He said as he seemed to turn into a hotdog in a bun with mustard. "I'm roasted."

Mr. Centipede shook his head, shuddering. Then he looked up at the seagulls. One turned from an ordinary white and gray bird into a cooked, headless chicken, clucking instead of screeching.

Licking his lips, Mr. Centipede looked to see that no one was looking, and pulled the string down until he had the "chicken". "Unhand that bird!" Mrs. Ladybug snapped, hitting him on the head with her purse. The seagull grabbed his nose in its sharp bill and pulled painfully before flying back up.

"But I'm dying of hunger!" Mr. Centipede whined pitifully.

"Oh, perhaps I have a bit of soda bread in here somewhere," She said, looking in her purse.

"Food?" Mr. Grasshopper asked, standing up.

"It's not much," Mrs. Ladybug said, handing Mr. Centipede a slice of bread. "But it's-"

"Not so fast!" Mr. Grasshopper snatched away the bread. "I need this food." He sniffed, taking a bite of it. "I have a much higher metabolism."

"Bite me!" Mr. Centipede snapped, leaping at the grasshopper.

"Have you two gone mad?" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed.

Their yells attracted the attention of Ms. Spider, Earthworm, James, and Anna-Maria, who clapped and giggled as though the centipede and grasshopper was some sort of show.

"Let go of it, Gramps! Give it! Give it to me!"

"Let go of my coat!"

"Give it to me!"

"Ow, my lower thorax!"

"I'll rip you apart!"

"I tell you, it's mine!"

"Give. It. Back!"

Finally, as Mr. Centipede was standing on Mr. Grasshopper's lower thorax, trying to grab the bread with his mandibles, the grasshopper dropped the bread. It bounced off of boardwalk and fell overboard, disappearing into the clouds.

Staring after it for a second, the two bugs glared at each other, growling, and both yelled, "Now look what you've done!" Then they started fighting again.

"We're going to starve." Earthworm complained. "Waste away; and not quickly. Oh, no, that would be the easy way out. We'll linger. Slowly. Miserably. Painfully."

While the earthworm moaned on, James had realized something. Apparently, so did Anna-Maria, as she patted the fuzzy peach skin. "Nobody's going to starve." Her brother chuckled; this stopped the bugs' fighting. "Don't you see? We have enough food here for five voyages." He climbed down the ladder.

"Food? Where?" Mr. Centipede asked, putting his hat back on. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Is there really food?" Mr. Grasshopper inquired.

"The whole ship is made of food!" James declared, coming back up with a large amount of juicy peach flesh.

"Peach is food!" Anna-Maria added.

"Oh, such clever children." Mrs. Ladybug cooed as the bugs each took a helping.

Mr. Centipede shoved most of his in his mouth. "Take after me." He bragged as though James and Anna-Maria were his own children.

"After you?" Ms. Spider scoffed, taking the rest of his peach. "There is nothing left to take."

"It's delectable." Mr. Grasshopper said after eating his share. He picked remaining morsels off of his coat.

"Better than aphids." Mrs. Ladybug said.

"Better than ladybugs." Ms. Spider sighed.

"What?" She exclaimed, giving her a look.

"Excuse." Ms. Spider blushed.

"Me! Me! Me!" Anna-Maria exclaimed. James gave her a handful of the peach. She shoved it into her mouth, getting juice on her cheeks and chin. She smiled, "Mmm, yummy!"

"It's not dirt," Earthworm said, taking a bite of his helping. "But it's not bad."

"Not bad? It's the best thing I've ever tasted." Mr. Centipede declared. "And I have tasted a lot." On that note, one by one, the bugs and children jumped down the hatch.

* * *

Inside, James took out another large portion of peach, slid down the ladder, and put it on a platter Mr. Centipede was holding. He joined him on Glowworm's lantern, which was lowered to a table, which was actually a metal tub turned upside down with the English flag as a table cloth. Mr. Grasshopper, Mrs. Ladybug, and Earthworm were sitting at the table; Anna-Maria was sitting on the earthworm's tail, and had a napkin tied around her neck.

_I've eaten many strange and scrumptious dishes in my time,  
Like jellied bugs, and curried slugs, and earwigs cooked in slime._

Mr. Centipede jumped down onto the table, while Mr. Grasshopper lifted James down off of the lantern. Mr. Centipede took off his hat, and flipped it inside out into a chef's hat. Anna-Maria giggled and clapped at the trick.

_And mice with rice is very nice, when they're roasted in their prime.  
But don't forget to sprinkle them with just a pinch of grime._

He set the plate of peach on the table, sprinkled some ash on it from his cigar, and then spun the plate really fast. He shaped it into a flat sphere, then into a small cone-shaped hill. He grabbed various tools, and cut the peach up. When it stopped, the peach was several banana-shaped pieces with a bird on top. Some of them landed on plates on the table. Mr. Centipede took the plate with the rest of the peach and jumped on the lantern, handing a peach piece to Glowworm.

_I'm crazy 'bout mosquitoes on a piece of buttered toast.  
And pickled spines of porcupines, and then a great big roast!  
And dragon's flesh, quite old, not fresh, it costs a buck at most._

"Does it come with gravy?" Glowworm asked.

"It comes to you in barrels if you order it by post." He handed Ms. Spider, who was in a spout in the peach. She thanked him with a slap in the face as he swung away.

The others, finished with their peach pieces, lifted the flag from the table, and turned it right side up. Mr. Centipede pushed a large piece of peach from the wall. It rolled down the ladders, and fell into the tub as the bugs and James repeated, "It comes to you in barrels if you order it by post." A piece of peach flew onto James' face, making him fall back. Mr. Grasshopper helped him back up as the peach slid down, leaving his face covered in juice.

_For dinner on my birthday, shall I tell you what I chose?  
Hot noodles made of poodles on a slice of garden hose,_

Rolling his pants up, Mr. Grasshopper stepped on Earthworm as though he was stairs and into the tub of peach.

_And a rather smelly jelly, made of armadillo's toes.  
The jelly is delicious, but you have to hold your nose._

He began jumping in the peach as though it were a tub of whine grapes as James, Earthworm, and Anna-Maria repeatedly chanted, "Peach!" Mrs. Ladybug took out four glasses and a sippy cub from her purse—how she did so, no one knew.

_I crave the tasty tentacles of octopi for tea.  
I like hot dogs, but I love hot frogs, and surely you'll agree._

She shoved a spout in the side of the tub, and turned it on, filling the tubs with peach liquid with foam. She slid a glass to Earthworm, who caught it in his tail; she tossed a glass to Ms. Spider; she gave a glass to James, and the sippy cup to Anna-Maria.

_A plate of soil with engine oil's a super recipe.  
I hardly need to mention that it's practically free!_

Mrs. Ladybug filled a glass pitcher with the peach malt, including some Mr. Grasshopper poured from his shoe.

_We hardly need to mention that it's practically free!_

Up on a higher level, Mr. Centipede slowly came out with a large amount of peach balanced on his back, and was holding his hat in one of his hands.

_Now comes, my fellow travelers, the burden of my speech:'_

'"You show-off!" Ms. Spider yelled.

Now Mr. Centipede had the peach on his head, and was swaying from side to side. The bugs scattered, but it was too late; the peach fell, covering everyone in the juicy, light orange fruit.

_These foods are rare, beyond compare, and some right out of reach,_

"Nice aim, Commodore." Ms. Spider smirked, eyeing the mess.

_But there's no doubt I'd go without a million plates of each._

Putting his hat back on, Mr. Centipede slid down a ladder, stopping on the spider's spout. "Out of my face!" She snapped, throwing her drink at him when he grinned down at her.

_For one small mite,_

Earthworm and Mrs. Ladybug popped out of the mess; the former balancing a ball of peach on his nose, and the latter still holding the pitcher. "One small mite,"

_One tiny bite,_

James, Mr. Grasshopper, and Anna-Maria appeared, all covered in bits of peach and juice. "Tiny bit of this fantastic peach."

Mr. Centipede turned on the faucet. Peach came out instead of water. Ms. Spider ran backwards to stay up, but soon fell in the mess. A peach-ball fight soon commenced. Everyone threw some peach at Mr. Centipede, who was hanging upside down by his legs on the spout. "Whoa!" He yelled, falling in with them. He soon joined into the fight as well, losing his hat in the mess.

_This fantastic peach!_

* * *

**A/N I wanted to write about Anna-Maria a bit, since she isn't officially in the story. So I did a little bonding time between her and the bugs.**

**I always laugh when the seagull pulls the centipede's nose XD He deserved it.**

**I think the song "Eating the Peach" (that's really what it's called) is my favorite song of the movie :D Plus, it was also in the book, although some lines were removed in the movie, a tweak here and there, and in the book, it was sung entirely by the centipede.**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: Thanks :D**

**Yeah, I think it is too :)**

**Demonwolf: Thank you very much :)**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Later that night, nearly everyone had fallen asleep, all full of peach. Mr. Centipede tried to stay awake, as he had to steer the peach, but he eventually fell asleep, snoring.

Down below, Ms. Spider was putting the finishing touches on her web. Sitting in the middle on two large leaves were James and Anna-Maria, both sleepy from the events earlier that day. "You keep to yourself, don't you?" James yawned.

"I prefer to be alone." Ms. Spider answered.

"Anna-Maria and I were alone for a long time once. I think it's much nicer to have friends, don't you?"

"I would not know."

"They would be your friends too." James pointed out. "The others, I mean, if you'd just let them."

"No, it is in their nature to have fear of me." Ms. Spider said. "This I cannot change."

"You're very kind to _us_," He pointed out. "Anna-Maria and I."

"Maybe this is because you and your sister are kind to me first." Ms. Spider said, gently pushing James and Anna-Maria back.

It was then the young boy realized something. "You were the spider in our window."

"Mm-hmm." She nodded, smiling. She began to cover the children's lower halves with her string to keep them warm.

"You were our first friend. I mean, since we went to live with our aunts. They hated us!"

"Shh," She shushed, laying a hand on his lips. "Do not think of them now."

"But what if they find us? What if we don't make it to New York? I'll _die_ if Anna-Maria and I have to go back to the way we were!"

"They can't make me!" Anna-Maria declared, crossing her arms.

"Nobody can make you, or your brother, do _anything_, Anna-Maria," Ms. Spider comforted her, laying her back next to her brother. "If you do not let them; you are both brave children." She covered them with James' coat, and kissed their foreheads. "Now to sleep. You both have had a very 'tired-making' day."

"Stowy?" Anna-Maria asked.

"Not tonight. It is late, and you both need your sleep." She climbed back into her spout to sleep, pausing to blow out a candle.

"But I'm not sleepy…" Anna-Maria whispered, drifting off to sleep. James yawned and watched the moon float by in the clouds through the open hatch. Eventually, his eyelids closed heavily, taking him into the warm arms of sleep.

The next morning, Anna-Maria was awoken by her brother's shaking, and a sudden coldness in the air. Waking up, she realized it was snowing. Eyes widening, she looked up at the hatch to see snow falling down it.

"James!" She exclaimed, sitting up and shaking him. "James, wake up!"

Gasping, his eyes popped open. They both crawled out of the web blanket; James put his coat on, and they climbed up the ladder and out of the hatch. The peach was covered with a thin layer of snow, and there were icicles on the stem. "Whoa!" He exclaimed. They were in a very cold place. There were glaciers, and a frozen lake with cracks in it. It was also full of abandoned ships.

"James," Anna-Maria shivered. "I'm c-c-cold."

James picked up Anna-Maria, wrapping her inside his coat, shivering as well. When they looked up, to their surprise, the seagulls had icicles, and were very sluggishly flapping their wings, pitifully screeching.

"This is an outrage!" They heard Mr. Grasshopper yell. Looking over the edge of the peach, they saw him yelling at Mr. Centipede on the boardwalk. Mrs. Ladybug and Earthworm were with him, and both didn't look very happy as well.

"You are a disgrace to your phylum, class, order, genus, and species!" He continued.

"Say it in English!" Mr. Centipede snapped, shoving his face to the grasshopper's.

"You, sir, are an ass!" Mr. Grasshopper declared, pointing a finger to the centipede's chest.

"Where are we?" James shivered. "What's going on?"

"I found this dime-store Timmy asleep at the helm," Mr. Grasshopper explained. "Now we're lost!"

"We are _not_ lost!" Mr. Centipede countered.

"Then where are we?"

"Somewhere north…or possibly very, very far south."

"What's your latitude? What's your longitude?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "That's personal, bub."

"You said you could navigate!" Mr. Grasshopper yelled exasperated, advancing towards the centipede.

"You said you seen the world." Mrs. Ladybug pointed out.

"You said you'd been to Bora Bora." Earthworm added.

"Well, not Bora Bora, per se," Mr. Centipede confessed sheepishly.

"What about the shores of Tripoli?" Ms. Spider asked, popping up over one side of the peach.

"Did I say 'Tripoli'?" He chuckled. "I meant the Halls of Montezuma."

"That's what you said!" Earthworm protested.

"Never have I heard such mendacity!" Mr. Grasshopper huffed.

"You liar!" Ms. Spider scowled.

"Charlatan!" Mrs. Ladybug scolded.

"Wait!" James snapped, still holding Anna-Maria. "If he says he's seen the world, then he's seen the world. Right, Mr. Centipede?"

"Yeah!" Anna-Maria nodded. "Centipede don't lie! Right?"

As of now, the centipede now had a very guilty expression. "Well…I _did_ live between two pages of the National Geographic." He confessed, not quite meeting the children's eyes.

James looked both confused and betrayed. "Huh?"

The other bugs were horrified as the centipede continued, "Very informative, National Geographic. Wonderful pictures."

Mr. Grasshopper had had enough. "You incompetent, blithering, nitwit!" He yelled outright.

"All right, Hoppy, them's fightin' words!" Mr. Centipede declared, throwing his cigar onto the boardwalk and holding up all twelve of his fists. "Put 'em up! Put 'em up! C'mon, gimme your best shot!"

Mr. Grasshopper simply kicked him in the jaw, knocking him onto his back, and making his hat fall beside him. "Whoa, good shot." He muttered, rubbing his jaw. He then spat out a tooth. "Did you see what he did to me?"

"Hmph, serves ya right." Mrs. Ladybug huffed. The bugs turned away from him and walked back up the boardwalk, leaving him to pick himself up, put his hat back on, and nurse his bruising jaw.

"Why Mr. Gwasshopper kick Centipede?" Anna-Maria asked innocently.

"Because he lied to us," James answered. "And lying is wrong." He then asked Mr. Grasshopper, "What do we do now? Which way do we go?"

"Oh, it's simple, really," He answered. "All we need to do is determine our coordinates, then use triangulation to chart a direct route to New York."

"Then there's hope." Earthworm smiled.

"Don't be ridiculous," He snapped, poking the worm in the nose. "There's no hope at all! We don't have a compass."

"We'll never reach New York," Earthworm moaned. "We're gonna be stuck here forever. We're gonna be frozen, like living statues."

"_Dead_ living statues." Mr. Grasshopper corrected grimly. If the grasshopper agreed with the earthworm's moans, then there was indeed no hope.

"No dark hiding places." Ms. Spider sighed.

"No cozy leaf in the park." Mrs. Ladybug said.

"No city where dreams come true." James added.

"No New Yo'k." Anna-Maria finished, sniffling.

Mr. Centipede had heard what everyone said, and now felt immensely guilty. He leaned back against the peach, and sat on the boardwalk. He held his face in his hands, feeling really bad for lying to his friends. It was his fault they were in this situation. But what could he do?

As if to answer, James spoke up, "Don't ships have compasses?"

"No doubt," Mr. Grasshopper agreed, but continued, "But to brave those icy waters would mean certain death."

Hearing that, Mr. Centipede gulped, holding his hat nervously. He looked out at the icy lake, hearing the grasshopper's last statement, "Only a fool would do it."

"Uh-huh." He decided, shoving his hat on his head and putting his cigar in the corner of his mouth. He was going to do something right this time. "Geronimo!" He yelled, diving neatly into a hole in the ice.

"What? What?" Earthworm exclaimed in surprise. "What was that?"

"The centipede jumped in!" James exclaimed, seeing he was no longer on the boardwalk.

"Good heavens!" Mr. Grasshopper gasped. "He's committed pesticide! Oh, this is all my doing."

"Don't take all the credit!" Earthworm complained, pointing his tail at the insect. "I helped too."

"I have to go after him!" James said, setting Anna-Maria on the peach.

"Not on your life!" Mrs. Ladybug snapped. "You'll catch your death of cold."

"But he's my friend!"

"James is right," Ms. Spider spoke up. "Centipede is one of us. Get on my back, I am going with you."

James climbed onto her back. "You had better take good care of him." Mrs. Ladybug declared.

"This I promise." She nodded.

James pulled out some of her string and threw it to Mrs. Ladybug, who tied it to the peach stem. "Stay by the line," He said. "And when you feel two tugs, pull us up."

"I'm going too!" Anna-Maria declared, and started to climb onto the spider.

Earthworm grabbed her around the middle with his tail and pulled her back. "No you aren't!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed, holding her firmly by the shoulder as the earthworm let her go. "You're staying up here!"

"I wanna save Centipede!" She screamed, jumping up and down. Then she started to cry; not only because she wanted to save the centipede, but she missed him as well.

Thinking quickly, James said to his little sister, "Anna-Maria, I have an important job for you. You have to make sure the line is tugged two times. Can you do that?"

Eager to help, Anna-Maria stopped crying and wiped her tears away. "I do that, James!" She nodded. "I do that!"

On that note, Ms. Spider jumped over the side, letting out her string as she went, and dove into the hole Mr. Centipede had dove into.

* * *

**A/N I skipped the nightmare because I had no ideas for Anna-Maria's nightmare.**

**I think the centipede really DID deserve the kick in the face, even though he feels bad about lying.**

**I had the idea of Anna-Maria wanting to save the centipede and throwing a mini-tantrum about having to stay on the peach ever since I came up with her.**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: Truthfully, I didn't see Nightmare Before Christmas until after I saw JatGP, so I didn't make the connection until later XD It's kind of an Easter egg, when you think about it :)**

**Demonwolf: Thank you very much :)**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Ms. Spider plunged into the cold water, and swam deeper down. James wondered how they were able to breathe underwater, but shrugged it off. He didn't need to worry about that, as long as they didn't drown; they had to find Mr. Centipede.

Said centipede was now on a sunken pirate ship. He whistled as he walked along the deck and into captain's quarters. Looking inside, he saw a skeletal pirate sitting at a desk, wearing a big black pirate's hat, and with a skeletal parrot on his shoulder; the pirate was sprawled out on the desk, with something in his arms.

"A skellington?" Mr. Centipede muttered, approaching the desk. "Hmm?" He blew the dust away, revealing a large compass.

"Jackpot!" He exclaimed with glee. "A genuine compass!" He lifted the pirate up to remove the compass. The bones squeaked. "Sounds like you need a little oil, Captain." Mr. Centipede remarked, taking the compass, and letting the skeleton fall. "Thank you, sir," He saluted. "I'll be shovin' off now." He sauntered off, but realized he was walking in place. Looking back, the skeleton had come to life, and was holding his suspenders, growling.

"Aah! I should've worn a belt!" He ran as fast as he could to the door. Suddenly, several pirates appeared. One came out of a trap door in the floor, two others out of a chest, and one through the door.

"Holy shipwreck!" Mr. Centipede screamed. Suddenly, he slipped, and was snapped back into the captain's arms.

Ms. Spider soon saw the pirate ship Mr. Centipede was on. She settled onto the crow's nest, cut the string, and tied it to the mast. James hopped off of her back and looked down at the deck. He and Ms. Spider gasped at what they saw: Mr. Centipede, who was yelling in pain, had his arms tied around his back, was tied to two wheels on separate sides of the ship, and was slowly being stretched by skeletal pirates. On his stomach was a compass.

"Listen, fellas," He groaned. "I got a long history of back problems, and I don't need it to get any longer!" He screamed as he was stretched to twice his normal length. The captain lifted the compass off of him as the centipede continued to stretch. There was a loud crack. "Hey, that one felt pretty good." He chuckled. His grin faded away as a large pirate came up, carrying a large ax.

"It's Paul Bunyan, coming to cut me some slack." Mr. Centipede joked as the pirate raised his ax. "Whoa! Hey, pal, you're aimin' a little low." Noticing James and Ms. Spider on the crow's nest, he yelled, "He's gonna cut me in half!"

Wasting no time, James jumped out of the crow's nest and landed on the pirate. He fell onto the centipede, was bounced up, and fell off of the ship.

"Hey, sailors!" Ms. Spider yelled, coming down. "Looking for some cheek?" She kicked two pirates away from one wheel. One crashed into the last one at the other wheel. The wheels spun backwards, and Mr. Centipede fell below deck. "Ooh! Cut me loose!" He yelled.

James saw the ax laying stuck in the deck. He ran over and pulled at it. Behind him, the captain was slowly approaching him, growling. James pulled the ax out of the deck, and it swung back, smacking into the skeleton, causing his head to pop off and the compass to fly out of his hands. He grabbed the rope holding Mr. Centipede, and fell back, pulling the centipede, whose legs were free, up. "Get the compass!" He exclaimed, as it was rolling towards the edge of the ship.

As the captain chased after his rolling head, Ms. Spider ran to the edge of the ship and grabbed the compass before it could fall. "Have got it!" She yelled.

A pirate dressed as an Eskimo jumped from the upper deck onto the main deck, shouting, "Ubutu!" He ran towards Ms. Spider, holding out a spear. She jumped up just as it stuck in the deck, bending forward. It snapped back, hitting the spider and causing her to roll away.

"Whooooaaa!" She yelled, rolling along the deck. A pirate grabbed the duck pirate's arms away and used them to grab the compass. Just as the captain grabbed his head and was putting it back on, Ms. Spider crashed into him. His hat flew out of his hands and into the duck's arms, smacking the compass into James' hands.

"Gotcha!" He exclaimed. Then the skeletal parrot grabbed it with a squawk, and tried to fly off.

"Polly wanna smacker?" Mr. Centipede swung by on the rope and grabbed the compass. He smacked the parrot away; it crashed into a wall and got its beak stuck. Its wings fell off.

Mr. Centipede swung up and into the crow's nest. "Look out!" He warned James and Ms. Spider; the duck pirate, its arms back on, barely hit them with a hammer. Ms. Spider kicked the pirate, and it fell to pieces. Then the two of them climbed up the Jacob's ladder and joined the centipede in the crow's nest. "I got a good one for ya," He said, helping them into the crow's nest. "Why don't skeletons play music in church?"

The other pirates were climbing up the ladder, led by the captain. Not waiting for an answer, Mr. Centipede tied the string back on Ms. Spider and jumped onto her back. "'Cause they got no organs!" He tugged on the string twice, laughing. The string pulled up quickly; the captain, not wanting to lose his compass, jumped up as hard as he could and actually caught up with them. He held onto Ms. Spider and thrust his sword at them. Mr. Centipede removed his hat and quickly grabbed the sword with his mandibles as it nearly impaled James' head. The pirate jumped back, taking Mr. Centipede with him back down to the ship.

"Noooo!" James and Ms. Spider screamed, but they couldn't do anything but watch the ship disappear as Mr. Centipede bravely fought the pirates.

Ms. Spider was pulled out of the water and back onto the peach. "Oh, thank goodness!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed. "You're all right!"

"Where Centipede?" Anna-Maria asked worriedly when she didn't see him.

"Yes, what happened to him?" Mr. Grasshopper asked.

"He found a compass for us." Ms. Spider said, holding it up; the others gasped.

"Compass!" Anna-Maria clapped her hands with glee.

"And a shipload of pirates!" James added, receiving the blanket Mrs. Ladybug gave him.

"Piwates?"

"Hold this," Ms. Spider said, shoving the compass into Earthworm's mouth. "I am going back."

"Do be careful, Ms. Spider." Mr. Grasshopper said as she jumped over the side and onto the ice. Before she could dive in though, the water bubbled, and something dark floated up. She gasped when she realized it was Mr. Centipede's hat. Thinking the worst, she picked it up and looked at the others on the peach, tears falling down her face.

"Poor Centipede." Mr. Grasshopper sighed.

"He saved our lives down there." James said sadly.

"Centipede?" Anna-Maria whispered, fully realizing what had happened. She hugged James tightly around the waist, crying. Mrs. Ladybug laid a hand on the children's shoulders in sympathy.

Just then, something slowly rose out of the water. "Look out!" Mrs. Ladybug screamed. "Ms. Spider!"

She gasped as she turned around, but her frightened face turned to one of relief. Mr. Centipede had risen out of the water, holding a skeletal arm holding a sword, and wearing the captain's hat. He laughed out loud.

"Centipede!" James exclaimed with happiness. Anna-Maria was jumping in place and clapping her hands, squealing with delight.

"How am I lookin' kids?" He grinned up at both of them.

Ms. Spider grabbed the sword from his hand and said, "Centipede, I do not know whether to kill you," She held the sword at his throat, but then lowered it and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush bright red. "Or, kiss you."

Everyone pulled them both up onto the boardwalk while James took the compass out of Earthworm's mouth and walked up the boardwalk to the peach stem.

Mr. Centipede and Mr. Grasshopper were acknowledging each other with nervous chuckles and apologies. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey, I'm sorry."

"My sincere apologies."

"I just wanna apologize."

"I just wanted to say—"

"What I'm tryin' to say—"

"That's enough chit-chat," Earthworm announced, now wearing the captain's hat. "I'm freezing!"

"Hello? The compass is ready!" James yelled out, having just finished attaching the compass to the stem.

"Mr. Centipede, would you please do us the honor of navigating us out of this icebox?" Mr. Grasshopper asked humbly.

"It would be my pleasure."

Anna-Maria grabbed the centipede in a big hug. "You come back!" She exclaimed happily.

"'Course I came back," He chuckled, taking her right hand in one of his lower left ones.

Anna-Maria parted from the hug and grabbed Mr. Grasshopper's lower right hand in her left, and pulled both of them up the boardwalk and to the peach stem, giggling as Earthworm removed the captain's hat off of his head with his tail, and put it on the toddler's head so it didn't cover her eyes.

"Alright, boys, coffee break's over." Mr. Centipede let Anna-Maria's hand go and jumped onto the peach stem and pulling the strings, shaking the icicles off of seagulls. Now they could fly more comfortably and effectively.

"I'm looking forward to a 'hopping' good time at the Big Apple, Mr. Centipede." Mr. Grasshopper remarked as the centipede turned the peach stem around to steer the seagulls out of the cold environment.

"You said it, Mr. Grasshopper." He agreed.

* * *

**A/N Like I said, I saw James and the Giant Peach before the Nightmare Before Christmas, so I didn't know the pirate captain resembled Jack Skellington. I also didn't pay much attention to details like that until I was older, so it wasn't until later I made the connection ^^**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: Thanks :)**

**Demonwolf: Yes it is :)**

**Maybe she does ;) It IS cute :3**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Late that night, Mr. Centipede was still by the stem. Anna-Maria was sitting nearby, playing with some pieces of wood she found in the pit.

Mr. Centipede stretched and yawned, "Boy, what I wouldn't do for a cub of coffee." He patted his cheeks and shook his head sharply, groaning, to stay awake. "Cup of Joe." He moaned. Anna-Maria giggled at his antics.

Mr. Grasshopper came out of the hatch, carrying two plaid blankets and a matchbox folded like a chair. "I say, old sport," He said, coming out and onto the peach. "Came to relieve you of your duty."

"I said I'd steer the peach." Mr. Centipede protested as the grasshopper came around him and placed the chair on the peach behind him. "Have to steer the peach. Can't quit…now." He yawned, sitting back on the chair when Mr. Grasshopper nudged the backs of his ankles with the matchbox.

"Good show, old boy." Mr. Grasshopper whispered, moving the chair so it was away from the stem.

Mr. Centipede grunted a few times before muttering, "Thanks…Mr. Grasshopper." as the grasshopper laid the blanket across the snoring centipede.

"Isn't it about _your_ bedtime, Anna-Maria?" Mr. Grasshopper asked, lifting her up in his arms.

"But I'm not sleepy…" Anna-Maria yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"Of course you aren't." He laid her on the centipede's sleeping form and laid the other blanket on her. She wasn't quite asleep, so he fetched his violin case from the pit, sat on his thorax with a foot against the stem, and began playing soft violin music.

James, who had been sitting on the boardwalk, looking through his travel book, heard the familiar-sounding violin music. Folding up the travel book and putting it in his pants pocket, the boy walked up the boardwalk and to the top of the peach. He found Mr. Centipede asleep and snoring in a chair with a blanket on him; Anna-Maria was sitting on his lap with a blanket on her, looking as though she was trying to stay awake. Mr. Grasshopper was sitting on the peach, leaning one foot against the peach, and playing a violin with two bows.

"…That music!" James said.

"Oh, Sir James! Did I disturb you?" Mr. Grasshopper stammered. "So sorry; I'll put this away,"

"No, no," James exclaimed. "I like it! Anna-Maria and I used to hear it at our aunts' house, before we went to sleep." He then figured something. "That _was_ you, wasn't it? Or do all grasshoppers play music?"

"All grasshoppers, try." He said. "I'm sure you and your sister have heard this." He laid back and moved his legs, creating a familiar chirping noise.

Anna-Maria and James both nodded, humming. "Ghastly, isn't it?" Mr. Grasshopper scoffed, standing. "Cricket stuff. Music should be the voice of the soul."

"What's that mean?" Anna-Maria asked, climbing off of Mr. Centipede's lap and standing beside her brother.

"It means that when I'm happy, my music sounds like this," He began playing a classic, upbeat tune on his violin. Mr. Centipede sighed in his sleep as Mr. Grasshopper stopped. Both children clapped their hands.

"And when I'm sad, it's like this." He played another classical tune; this one sounded slow and sad.

"When one of us was sad, we'd climb in bed with our mom and dad." James said sadly. "That was a long time ago."

Anna-Maria hugged her brother, wiping a tear away. "I'm sure they'd be very proud of both of you," Mr. Grasshopper said, laying a hand on their shoulders. "I know we are." On that note, he jumped onto the peach stem and began playing a different happy tune. The others in the peach pit heard the music and slowly began awakening.

_Take a little time,  
Just look at where we are.  
We've come very, very far, together.  
And if I might say so,_

Mr. Centipede, having woken up, stood up and threw his blanket off of him.

_And if I might say so too,  
We wouldn't have got anywhere if it weren't for you, boy._

Mrs. Ladybug came out of the hatch.

_Love is the sweetest thing._

Then Earthworm slithered out.

_Love never comes just when you think it will._

Finally, Ms. Spider stepped out.

_Love is the way we feel for you.  
_

_We're family, we're family, we're family,  
All of us and you!_

Mr. Centipede climbed onto the peach stem, held his hat in one hand, and swung upside down like a trapeze artist on a swing.

_Think of where we'd be,  
If we were on our own._

"We'd be dead!" Earthworm exclaimed.

_You're what holds us all together._

"We are?" James asked.

_And if I might say so,  
And if we might say so too,  
We never could love anyone as much as we love you!_

Then Glowworm came out. Mr. Centipede and Grasshopper helped her out of the hatch and set her on the peach.

_Love,  
Is the strangest thing.  
Love,  
Does exactly what it wants to do.  
Love,  
Boy, you know it's true.  
We're family, we're family, we're family,  
Me and you!_

"Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust," Ms. Spider quoted.

_Without you there'd be no us._

_Love is the sweetest thing._  
_Love does exactly what it wants to do._  
_Love is the way we feel for you._  
_We're family, we're family,_

"We're family," James sung. "Me and you."

Mr. Centipede pulled Ms. Spider into a small dance as the others watched. Anna-Maria toddled over to them, ignoring James' whispers to come back. She stood between them as they stopped, holding her arms up. They both lifted her up and kissed her on both cheeks, making her giggle.

"We'll always be together, won't?" James asked.

"Kid, you and your sister are stuck with us," Mr. Centipede said, setting Anna-Maria down and placing his hat on the boy. "For life."

Just then, a loud foghorn sounded into the night. They all looked over the edge of the peach. Through the clouds, they saw the bright lights of a city. "Look, everybody, we made it!" James exclaimed softly.

"We did?" Anna-Maria asked.

"New York City!" Ms. Spider whispered.

"Breathtaking!" Mr. Grasshopper exclaimed. "Stunning!"

"Glorious." Mrs. Ladybug added.

"Look at the park!" James pointed out.

"Pa'k!" Anna-Maria giggled.

"It's fabulous!" Mr. Centipede said.

"We have made it!" Ms. Spider hugged Mrs. Ladybug.

"What a wonderful sight." Mrs. Ladybug said, brushing away a tear.

"There's Lady Liberty!" Glowworm said as Earthworm laid his tail across her shoulders.

Earthworm sniffed the air and sighed, "I can almost smell the lovely dirt."

"Is it not beautiful?" Ms. Spider whispered.

"The Empire State Building!" James exclaimed.

"Yaay!" Anna-Maria cheered, remembering what their father had told them so many months ago.

"See those lights!" Mr. Centipede jumped up and laughed. "Wa-hoo! Yippee! 'Atta boy, Jimmy!"

"Good show, children!" Mr. Grasshopper said, patting James and Anna-Maria's heads. "The city awaits us."

"Now, remember, you two," Ms. Spider said, handing the centipede back his hat and holding the children's hands. "First impression is very important."

Before she could say anything else, a strong wind began blowing, and dark clouds approached them. The wind was so strong; it blew the blanket onto Mr. Centipede, the matchbox off of the peach, and the compass off of the stem. "Oh, no!" James gasped as the compass fell to the ocean.

"Compass!" Anna-Maria squealed, reaching for it before being pulled back by her arm by Glowworm.

"We'll be blown off course!" Mr. Grasshopper exclaimed.

"We'll wind up in Jersey!" Mr. Centipede screamed, throwing the blanket off of his head.

A loud thunderclap sounded, earning everyone's attention. As lightning flashed, a black figure slowly came through the clouds; it had glowing yellow eyes. "Could it be?" Mr. Grasshopper gasped.

"No, it couldn't be!" Mr. Centipede shook his head, growing worried.

The shape in the clouds roared loudly. "It's the rhino!" James exclaimed.

"Whino!" Anna-Maria whimpered, gripping her brother around the waist tightly.

"Oh, James," Mrs. Ladybug said, gripping her hat so it wouldn't fly away. "Do something!"

The rhino seemed to be running on thin air out of the clouds, and was getting closer to the peach. Thinking quickly, James screamed above the noise of the thunder, the rhino, and the wind, "Everyone! Climb up into the rigging! Hurry!"

Earthworm was laid over Mr. Grasshopper's shoulders as everyone climbed up and gripped the strings tethering the seagulls to the stem. "James," Ms. Spider called. "Are you and Anna-Maria not coming with us?"

"No!" James exclaimed, running onto the boardwalk with Anna-Maria following close behind. "It got our mom and dad, it won't get our friends!" He then screamed at the rhino, angry it had ruined their chances of a new home, "Come out and show your face, you stupid beast!"

"Big meanie whino!" Anna-Maria yelled, stomping her feet.

Roaring as if to answer, the rhino came out of the clouds. It was huge and black, with glowing yellow eyes, and blue bolts of lighting shot from its horn. James gasped, petrified; Anna-Maria grabbed him again, starting to cry.

"Good God Almighty!" Mr. Grasshopper gasped as it began to rain.

As the rhino came closer, Earthworm yelled out, "Remember what your parents said, James! 'Try looking at it another way'!"

Remembering how he told the earthworm about his family motto, James yelled to the rhino as loud as he could, "You're not even a real rhino! You're just a lot of smoke and noise!"

"You big and loud and noisy and stupid!" Anna-Maria added, glaring as hard as she could at the beast.

At the children's heckles, the rhino grunted angrily, showing its white teeth, and continued to fly away from the clouds. "We're not afraid of you!" James yelled. Then both children screamed, "We're not afraid of you!"

A bolt of blue lighting shot out and hit the boardwalk just as the rhino disappeared for good. The boardwalk began lifting off of the peach. It rolled the children down and into the hatch. As if by some twisted fate, the boardwalk sliced through the strings holding the birds to the stem. Without the seagulls carrying it, the peach began to fall through the air like a heavy stone. "James!" The bugs cried. "Anna-Maria!"

"Noooo!" The kids screamed as they fell into the dark.

SQUEALSH! The peach landed on something with a loud squish.

* * *

**A/N I always kinda liked the "Family" song; especially Ms. Spider and Mr. Centipede's dance at the end. I thought it'd be cute for Anna-Maria to go to them :3**

**So the rhino has been vanquished. But the kids' troubles aren't over yet...**

**Happy Thanksgiving :D**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: I always liked how James confronted the aunts :)**

**Demonwolf: Thank you :)**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

James soon came out of his unconsciousness to a bright red light flashing on and off periodically, and his little sister sitting on his back. Somehow, they had gotten away unharmed, save for a few bumps and scratches.

They both coughed up something bright green; they both squeaked and hopped away. As James sat up and Anna-Maria climbed off of him, something happened. When they looked at each other and touched their faces, they were human again. James then realized what happened: the peach fell out of the sky, and the bugs were gone. He began climbing up the hatch with Anna-Maria right behind him. "Ms. Spider?" He called out. "Mr. Grasshopper?"

"Centipede!" Anna-Maria yelled. "E'thwo'm!"

"Hello? Is anybody there?" James pushed opened the hatch and climbed out on top of the peach. He pulled Anna-Maria out. They saw a tall beacon with a bright red light on top. That would explain the red flashes.

Finding remains of the spider's silk still tied to the stem, James tied some of it around Anna-Maria's waist, and some around his. He gasped as they looked over the edge of the peach. Below them were brightly-lit streets with cars driving to and fro, honking their horns, and tall buildings with glowing windows. "Pwetty lights." Anna-Maria whispered, holding James' hand. "New Yo'k?"

James pulled out his travel book confused. "This isn't right," He said. "Where's the Empire State Building?"

"I dunno." Anna-Maria shrugged.

What the children didn't know was that the peach had fallen right onto the Empire State Building. It was now skewered like an olive on a toothpick on a sandwich. And it was leaking juice out of its wounds. It fell below on unsuspecting people. It fell on a chief of police as he was about to bite into an apple. "What the" He muttered, looking up. His voice died away as soon as he saw the round object on the Empire State Building.

"Officer!" A young girl with a telescope shouted from a window in a building. "There's a boy and little girl up there!"

"What?" He said bewildered as a crowd began to form. "A boy? Little girl?" He ran to a payphone, dialed a number, and said into the mouthpiece, panting, "Mabel, we got us a huge unidentified object here!"

"What's it look like?" The woman in the phone asked.

"Round, fuzzy; it looks sorta like a giant fruit or something."

"Well, what is it?"

"I don't know what it is!" He yelled. "Just send us the biggest crane in New York!"

Soon enough, a giant crane came crawling slowly down the street. By now, hundreds of people had gathered around to gape at the object on the tower. Skylights were turned on and aimed at the fruit as a man standing on end of the cable of the crane came down near the peach.

James lifted Anna-Maria up with one arm and waved the man closer with the other. "Please, sir, how do we get to the Empire State Building?" He asked politely.

"You're on top of it, kid." The man answered.

"We made it!" James exclaimed, fully realizing his dream had come true. Then he remembered there were only him and Anna-Maria. "Well, Anna-Maria and I made it." He said sadly, feeling tears beginning to grow. Anna-Maria hugged him, sniffling.

The peach stem was attached to the crane, and James and Anna-Maria were hoisted up by the man on the cable. "Hang on." He said. The peach was lifted off of the Empire State Building and was slowly lowered down on top of a large truck.

"Have you seen any big bugs tonight?" James asked hopefully.

"Big bugs? How big?" The man asked.

"Huge." Anna-Maria answered.

Several police cars came, sirens ringing and lights flashing. News trucks came as well. "I hope they're all right." James muttered worriedly.

As soon as the peach landed on the truck, the fire department had arrived. The firefighters lifted a huge ladder up and leaned it against the peach; cameras were taking pictures of the peach with flashes of light. A firefighter climbed up just as soon as James was set on the peach again. "Don't worry, kids," The man on the crane said. "You two will be all right."

"Come on, sonny," The firefighter said, holding both kids over his shoulders and backing down the ladder. "Don't be afraid now. I got you."

As the firefighter stepped down the ladder, the reporters gathered around, holding notepads and asking questions. "What is this thing?"

"Where you from?"

"Why you here?"

"Who?"

"What?"

"Where?"

"When?"

"Why?"

"Hold your fire, fellas!" The police chief snapped, lifting the kids down to the ground. "They're just kids, for Pete's sake." He then said to James and Anna-Maria kindly, "It's ok, little guys. Nobody's gonna hurt you."

Just then, there was a honking noise. The crowd departed to reveal a flat car covered in seaweed with smoke coming from the smashed hood. It chugged along the road until it stopped with a sigh. Both doors opened, letting a large amount of seawater come out and onto the road. The kids looked curiously at the car. Their curiosity turned to horror when a familiar fat woman in pink pajamas and wet red hair came out. Their aunts; they had found them! "No!" James gasped.

"James!" Anna-Maria whimpered, tugging on his hands. James lifted her up, holding her protectively against him as the thin aunt came out and pulled some seaweed off of her mouth with a sigh. James shook his head; how did they find them? What did they want?

The aunts staggered to the children, dripping wet with seawater. Aunt Sponge exclaimed in pain and pulled a crab off of her and threw it away. "Hello, little…angels." She chuckled as James backed away from them and hid behind the chief.

"So kind of you to look after our little lost lambs." Aunt Spiker said as her sister blew the siblings a kiss.

"Who are you?" The chief asked suspiciously.

"We are the children's legal guardians." Aunt Spiker answered, showing the legal papers.

"We missed them so much." Aunt Sponge lied.

"So we'll just take them home now."

"And the peach, of course; we're taking that as well." Aunt Sponge chuckled.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," The chief said, holding up a hand. "Back up. You mean to tell me that this thing is a peach?"

"It's not _a_ peach," Aunt Spiker snapped. "It's _our_ peach."

"Our peach." Aunt Sponge nodded.

"Show him, Spongey."

Aunt Sponge reached into the front of her robe and pulled out a wet photograph, handing it to the chief. The kids gasped, recognizing it as the photo taken when the peach was behind the fence back in England.

"Looks like it's their peach, all right." The chief said, holding up the photo. Pictures began to snap again; this time of the aunts.

"Yes, yes, and we're very proud of it." Aunt Spiker said with pride.

"We're going to be in the record books." Aunt Sponge informed them.

Having enough, James spoke up, "It's not their peach. The old man gave the green things to _Anna-Maria_ and _me_. That's what made it grow."

"Cwocodile tongues." Anna-Maria nodded.

"How _dare_ you two disagree with us!" Aunt Sponge snapped.

"Patience, sister," Aunt Spiker said, holding her by the arm. "Remember their…condition."

"Their condition?" The chief asked, more confused.

"They're chronic liars," Aunt Sponge lied.

"Sad, really," Aunt Spiker sighed. "They need their treatment."

"Well, that's why we're here; to bring them home. So, you and your sister come here with us, hey, lovey?" Aunt Sponge made to grab James. James ran around the chief, hoisted Anna-Maria onto the hood of the truck, and climbed on top himself.

"We're not the ones who're lying," He said. "_They_ are!"

Aunt Spiker kept with her steady lies. "As you can see, Officer, it is urgent that you release them to us immediately."

"Let the children speak!" A voice yelled out from a man sitting on a roadblock, concealed by smoke. The crowd agreed, shouting to let James and Anna-Maria speak.

"Cwocodile tongue man!" She giggled with glee, clapping her hands. James smiled, wondering if the old man really did come to help them again.

"All right, all right, all right!" The chief yelled, silencing the crowd. "Let's get to the bottom of this! This thing is a peach. All right, I'll buy that. Now, does somebody wanna tell me _how_ it got here?"

"We attached it to a hundred seagulls." James said immediately.

"Seagulls!" Aunt Spiker scoffed, laughing; the rest of the crowd laughed as well.

"That's what happened!" James protested. "Me and Ms. Spider, and the centipede, and the old green grasshopper,"

"And E'thwo'm!" Anna-Maria nodded.

The crowd only laughed harder. "I think they've gone mad!" Aunt Spiker cackled.

"Why they don't believe us?" Anna-Maria asked.

"Because it's all something you two dreamed up." Aunt Spiker answered smoothly.

James lifted Anna-Maria up with one arm and stood up on the hood of the truck. "Well, maybe it started that way, as a dream. But doesn't everything? Those buildings, these lights, this whole city! Somebody had to have dreamed about it first. And maybe that's what Anna-Maria and I did. We dreamed about coming here, but then we did it!"

"The poor boy needs his medicine." Aunt Spiker said.

"Yes." Aunt Sponge agreed.

"So we'll just take him, his sister,"

"And the peach." Aunt Sponge added.

"Back to our cozy little house on the hill." Aunt Spiker finished, tossing the crumpled legal papers back over her shoulder. "Come along. You two are going home with us."

Anna-Maria scowled at her aunt and retorted, "No, we're not."

Aunt Spiker's neck stiffened, causing her skin to crackle. "What did you say?" She hissed through clenched teeth.

"She said, no. We're. Not!" James snapped back. "We hate that house and that cold room! And how we were always hungry,"

Worried the boy would reveal too much, Aunt Spiker said, "All right, that's enough."

"And how you beat us!" James continued in a flurry.

The crowd gasped with shock. "He's lying!" Aunt Sponge yelled.

"And told us we were nothing!" James continued.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"No!" James snapped. "Not this time." He paused, panting. "We flew the giant peach across the ocean. We landed on top of the tallest building in the world. _We_ made it! We're not the ones who are nothing, you are! And we're never going back with you! Not me, not Anna-Maria, and _not_ the peach!"

Now the aunts were fuming. "How _dare_ you speak to us this way!" Aunt Spiker yelled as they each took an axe from the fire truck. They wielded their weapons with a short laugh as the crowd gasped again. Acting quickly, James put Anna-Maria on the top of the truck, and climbed up as well. No sooner than he did, Aunt Sponge swung the axe onto the hood where they used to be, and Aunt Spiker smashed the front window of the truck. The chief blew his whistle, and firefighters pushed people back away from the rampaging aunts.

* * *

**A/N The dreaded aunts return! It's actually a nice touch on the film writers' part; especially since in the book, they were killed by the peach.**

**I always liked how the old man who gave James the crocodile tongues spoke out for him, even though it was only a few words.**

**We all know what happens next :D**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: Here they are :D**

**Demonwolf: Very true *nods***

* * *

**Chapter 14**

"James! Anna-Maria!" A familiar voice yelled. "Up here!"

When they looked up, they saw a green light. "Hello, we are here!" A high feminine voice called.

"Hey, buddies!" Another voice said.

The aunts were very confused. "What are they?" Aunt Spiker asked.

Then, out of the sky, still clutching some seagull strings, the bugs were slowly floating down to safety. "Young James!" Glowworm cried.

"Hey, princess!" Mr. Centipede said to Anna-Maria.

"Bugs!" Aunt Spiker exclaimed in horror.

"Need a little help down there?" Mr. Centipede asked as the crowd looked and pointed in amazement.

"Giant bugs!" Aunt Sponge screamed.

"Hey, you old biddies!" Mr. Centipede yelled to the aunts, blowing a raspberry at them.

The aunts gripped each other in fear of the giant bugs. "Help us!" They whimpered. No one came to their rescue though.

"Whoo-ee! Here we are, dears!" Mrs. Ladybug called out.

"Hello, kids!" Earthworm greeted.

"They come back!" Anna-Maria squealed with delight, clapping their hands.

"I told you they were real!" James grinned.

"Hello, old boy!" Mr. Grasshopper called out.

"Requesting clearance to land." Ms. Spider said as the bugs landed on the peach and let the seagulls fly free. The aunts still whimpered fearfully.

Getting an idea, James called out, "Ms. Spider, throw me a string!"

She unwound a bit of string and threw it to James. He fashioned it into a lasso, spun it over his head, and threw it onto the aunts. They screamed as they were bound together by the spider silk lasso. "Ok, pull them up!" James called out.

Having hooked the string over the hook of the crane, everyone pulled on the string, lifting the screaming aunts off of their feet.

"Help!" Aunt Sponge yelled. "Where are we going?" Soon they were up in the air where the bugs could look straight at them.

"Spin them around!" James said.

"Spin them 'round! Spin them 'round!" Anna-Maria giggled; glad the aunts were getting what they deserved.

Leaning back, Mr. Grasshopper began to kick at the aunts with a few grunts, spinning them around. "Wrap them tightly!" James yelled.

Ms. Spider threw some string, which got wrapped around the aunts' ankles. It began to wrap around them like a fly in a spider's web—no pun intended. The aunts' wigs fell off, revealing their bald heads. "Tighter!" James yelled. "Tighter!"

"Tight! Tight! Tight!" Anna-Maria chanted, jumping up and down.

As the screaming aunts were finally wrapped like a mummy, the watching chief muttered, "Well I'll be a—the kids were tellin' the truth." As the aunts continued to yell, muffled by the silk they were wrapped in, the chief yelled, "Get those two creeps outta here!"

The crowd cheered as the crane drove off, taking the aunts with them to who-knows-and-who-cares-where.

James lifted Anna-Maria; making sure she was holding him tightly, he up climbed up the ladder. Reporters were shouting in phones to the newspaper companies. "Stop the presses, I got a new front page! 'Big Bugs in the Big Apple'!"

"In big bold print, 'Little Lindies Fly Giant Peach'."

"'Half-Pint Heroes and Their Peach Pit Pals'."

James stopped halfway up the ladder and said to the crowd, "Everyone! These are our friends! The ones we've been telling you about: Mr. Centipede,"

"Hi!" He grinned as the crowd cheered. He slid down the ladder to the kids.

"Old Green Grasshopper,"

"My pleasure." He bowed politely.

"Earthworm, Mrs. Ladybug,"

"Charmed." She smiled, showing her big wings.

"Ms. Spider, and the Glowworm!"

"God bless the colonies!" She called out until Ms. Spider turned her around, as she was facing the wrong way.

As the crowd cheered for the bugs, a young boy about James' age came up and asked, "Can we eat some of your peach?"

"It won't keep forever." Mr. Centipede said, hanging down near the kids.

Grinning in amusement at his friend, James nodded, "Go ahead."

At once, hundreds of kids came forward and began taking handfuls of the peach to eat. Confetti was thrown out of windows and people were cheering still. Anna-Maria lifted her arms up to Mr. Centipede. Laughing, he lifted her in his four upper arms and stood up straight, waving to the crowd with the other arms. Anna-Maria waved and blew kisses everywhere.

"Hey!" A boy shouted to James. "What were your names?"

"It's James!" He answered.

"And Anna-Maweeuh!" She giggled.

"Anna-Maria!" James corrected. The festivity continued on as the kids ate the peach and the bugs waved to the crowds.

* * *

_They ate that peach all the way down to the pit. And set it up in Central Park as a permanent home._

Once the peach pit had been revealed and cleaned, it was fashioned into a home. Somehow, the peach pit was larger inside than it appeared outside. The bugs and kids only assumed it was the work of the magical crocodile tongues.

_And James Henry Trotter, and his little sister, Anna-Maria, who were once the saddest and loneliest little children you could find, now had a loving new family; and all the friends of the world._

James sat outside his house with dozens of children, telling his story. The door opened, revealing Ms. Spider wearing a chef's hat. "James," She said. "Dinner is ready."

Behind Ms. Spider, clutching one of her long legs shyly, was little Anna-Maria herself. She was wearing her peach dress like usual, but also was wearing only her socks, and had a cute red bow in her hair.

"Hi, Ms. Spider." The kids greeted, waving at her. "Hi, Anna-Maria." Ms. Spider waved back at the kids; Anna-Maria waved shyly.

"All right," James said. "Nearly finished."

She closed the door, letting James tell the rest of the story.

_And since James' visitors begged him again and again to hear the story of his adventure with the giant peach, he wished for a way to share it with everyone._

_And that is exactly what you have just seen._

* * *

**A/N I love the revenge James played on the aunts with the bugs' help :D They certainly deserved it all; the revenge was sweeter considering the aunts' fear of bugs.**

**The next chapter is the epilogue, telling of the bugs' occupations, and a couple of changes with Anna-Maria ;)**


	16. Epilogue

**A/N Inspired by MonstarzGirl's the Mummy fanfics. After watching James and the Giant Peach again, I wondered what would have happened had James had a sister. And reading MonstarzGirl's fanfics gave me ideas.**

**The only character I own is Anna-Maria; everything else is owned by Disney, and imagined by Roald Dahl. I'm using the movie version in this fanfic.**

**MonstarzGirl: Thanks :D**

**Demonwolf: I suppose it is :)**

* * *

**Epilogue**

In a short time, the bugs became some of the most famous people in New York. Nearly everyone knew who they were and how they had come to be in the most famous city of the world. And they all had their various jobs.

Mr. Centipede was running to be mayor of New York. He was quite popular, and everyone was sure he would win.

Mr. Grasshopper became a musician for the Brahms Violin Concerto. He was well-loved and known for his playing the violin with two bows instead of one. His music became quite famous and nice to listen to.

Earthworm was hired to be the mascot and spokesperson of a woman's skin cream company, thanks to his smooth skin. He quite enjoyed it, and became the models' favorite mascot.

Mrs. Ladybug became Dr. Ladybug, as she worked at a hospital, helping to deliver babies. Mothers soon wanted her in the delivery room for her gentleness with the situation and with the infants.

Ms. Spider opened her own nightclub called, "Spider Club". She loved it, since she could be in the dark where she liked it.

Glowworm became the light in Lady Liberty's torch, saving New York from a massive electricity bill.

James and Anna-Maria became simply famous children with bugs for a family. They wouldn't have it either way though. They also made great friends in their schools. James celebrated his eight birthday in New York, surrounded by his friends and family.

Anna-Maria became the happiest little toddler in New York. You could sometimes see her skipping down the sidewalk on her way to the park, dragging Mr. Centipede and Ms. Spider by their hands. Sometimes at the park, she would play in the sandpit with James and Earthworm.

Her biggest change was calling the bugs by different names. She called Mr. Centipede her 'Daddy', Ms. Spider her 'Mommy', Mr. Grasshopper her 'Papa', Mrs. Ladybug her 'Mama', Earthworm was her 'Uncle Earthworm', and Glowworm was 'Gramma'. She loved her whole family, and was very happy she and James had gone into the peach months ago.

* * *

**A/N Extremely short . But that's what you get with epilogues, I suppose.**

**I'm only going off from what I read in the book and saw in the newspapers in the movie for the bugs' jobs, so bear with me.**

**I especially wanted to show how Anna-Maria is after the whole story. She's basically a happy toddler with her bug family wrapped around her little finger :3 My favorite detail about her is having her call the bugs by family terms; mommy, daddy, uncle, etc. I just thought it would be a cute quirk of hers.**

**15 chapters, 31 reviews, and over 25,000 view. Very nice :) I'd like to thank everyone who favorited this,  
**

**Naturestune  
Severus's Daughter  
antaurilover685  
chasesgirl2  
snow299  
villianfangirl1  
xxxMadameMysteryxxx**

**Those who put this in their Alerts,  
**

**Naturestune  
snow299  
villianfangirl1**

**And those who reviewed,**

**Demonwolf  
snow299  
Obviously Entei  
MonstarzGirl  
Entei. RAWR  
**

**I'd especially like to thank Demonwolf for all of her kind reviews, and MonstarzGirl for inspiring this fanfic. Thanks for reading, everyone :)**


End file.
